Saturday, October 14, 2006 Businessmen can apply for exemption
''DIRECTOR Elias Cayanong of the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) 7 said businessmen can apply for exemption from paying the premium benefit of their workers during the four-day holiday when Cebu hosts the Asean summit in December.
He did not cite a specific reason for an exemption request, but he said any request must raise good reasons to pass Dole’s evaluation.
Cayanong said they understand the predicament of the business sector because additional expenses can affect their cash flow.
“Since the four-day holiday was already declared by President Arroyo, the options are either to implement the law granting the workers an additional 30 percent of their salary or to grant exemptions to employers,” Cayanong said.
Cayanong’s statement came a day after Cebu exporters asked for an emergency meeting with President Arroyo to request for an exemption from the holiday set on Dec. 11 to 14.
Allan Suarez, president of the Confederation of Philippine Exporters Foundation Cebu, said the sector, which is already suffering from a strong peso, will lose about P2 million daily or about P8 million if they will not operate for four days.
Some 120,000 workers, who will be covered by the no-work, no-pay policy, will not earn anything for four days.
Porferio Montesclaros of the Mactan Export Processing Zone Chamber of Exporters and Manufacturers earlier said that some of their member-firms, which have thousands of workers, will spend millions of pesos for the 30 percent holiday premium in one day alone.
Montesclaros said if the manufacturing firms will stop operations during the holidays, they will also incur more losses because that will delay the delivery of products to other countries.
Cayanong said that because the emergency measures are tentative, Dole will issue an advisory about the holidays and the workers’ premium by the end of October yet or early next month.
Tax credit
Carlos Co, past president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) and owner of Cebu Oversea Hardware, said declaring the Asean summit dates as holidays is unnecessary and will only add a burden to the business sector.
Robert Go, another CCCI past president, said business establishments must be opened during the Asean summit so they could showcase their products to heads of states and their entourage.
However, aside from asking for an exemption from the holidays, the exporters also asked the government to no longer make cargo inspections and the fumigation of export products mandatory.
Only those who will be sending goods to countries that have strict quarantine laws should be inspected.
They also asked Arroyo to allow them to use tax credit certificates in transacting with both the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs.
However, the President told them she will still refer the matter with the Department of Finance. (EOB/CYR')
