A business group in Iloilo has assured that it will comply with the mandated payment of 13th month pay to workers amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Iloilo Business Club (IBC) Executive Director Lea Lara noted that private businesses, under Presidential Decree No. 851, are required to grant their rank-and-file employees the 13th month pay.
The business sector in the province and city of Iloilo, according to Lara, has been “badly hit” by the pandemic that broke out in the country in mid-March this year.
In a report by One News, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III said all workers nationwide will be getting the 13th month pay this holiday season.
“It’s very clear in the law that 13th month pay must be given on or before Dec. 24, so employers must pay the workers, though we know there are companies not capable of giving it,” Bello said.
“We will not postpone, not defer, not give exemption to payment of 13th month pay. The law says pay workers 13th month on or before Dec. 24, and that’s what DOLE will implement,” he stressed.IMT
