Friday, December 15, 2006 Exporters buck holiday plan for January summit
THE organization of exporters in Cebu will seek another exemption if President Arroyo issues a holiday declaration for the new dates of the 12th Asean Summit.
“Even if the summit falls on two working days, we will still lobby for an exemption,” Confederation of Philippine Exporters Foundation (Philexport) Cebu Inc. executive officer Fred Escalona said.
Philexport-Cebu sought an exemption when President Arroyo declared a four-day holiday for the original dates of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit. The summit was supposed to be held this week.
Escalona said he is certain that the exporters’ allied services will seek for exemption as well.
“It’s hard to exempt just the exporters alone. Allied services of both the export and import industries, like forwarders, should also be excluded,” he said.
The summit, which was postponed reportedly because of typhoon Seniang, has been tentatively moved to Jan. 8 to 13 next year.
Escalona said in a phone interview that should Jan. 8 to 13 be declared non-working holidays, it will mean a “huge loss” for the export industry.
Earlier, he said workers at the Mactan Economic Zone, for instance, will incur losses of about P45 million in earnings, if they go on holiday for four days.
“That’s just for the workers alone. It does not include the losses that firms will incur,” he said.
He said the industry stands to lose around P2 million daily, or a total of P10 million should the holiday cover Jan. 8 to 12 next year.
As of press time, Malacañang has not yet decided to declare the tentative summit dates as holidays.
Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano, however, wants the summit in January to be declared a holiday as it would coincide with Sinulog activities.
According to Ouano, the scenario in January for industries would be different from December since there will be no more holiday rush to meet production deadlines.
The mayor earlier backed the call of manufacturing, exporting and banking sectors for holiday exemption.
Escalona said even without any public official to back them up, the sector will “fight for the same cause” before the summit National Organizing Committee and the National Government. (MMM)
