BY GLENDA TAYONA and IME SORNITO
ILOILO City – The city government will be observing a four-day workweek setup to help employees cope with the increase in fuel prices.
According to Mayor Jerry Treñas, this new work setup will commence by the last week of March.
“This will give our employees time to adjust their schedules both at work and in their homes,” Treñas said yesterday.
The city government will tap modern jeepneys to ferry its employees from the district plazas (as pickup points) to the city hall and back every day.
“Other measures recommended for energy conservation will be seriously studied,” Treñas added.
The four-day setup was suggested by Socioeconomic Planning secretary Karl Kendrick Chua to President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday.
According to Chua, government agencies can take the initiative to implement the new work setup, but implementing it in all government agencies may require a presidential order.
Duterte is expected to announce on March 21 his decision on the proposal, according to acting Presidential Spokesperson and Communications secretary Martin Andanar.
Chua said a four-day work week scheme could conserve energy and alleviate work-related expenses. This was also done in 1990 during the Gulf War and in 2008 when fuel prices also spiked.
Iloilo province’s Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. is also open to observing a four-day workweek for provincial government employees.
“If you reduce the number of working days in one week for our employees, fuel consumption also decreases,” Defensor explained.
The provincial government implemented such a work scheme last year, he revealed, although it was not because of fuel price hikes but due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Defensor said that during that period, provincial government employees rendered 10 hours of work a day for four days although it was not done simultaneously, so the capitol still operates five days a week.
“We can already do this because it’s in our COVID-19 EO (Executive Order) 175 in the alternative work arrangement provision for government offices. We are under Alert Level 2 (so) we can implement that for both THE COVID-19 reason and oil price hike,” he said.
The governor though will be meeting with concerned offices of the capitol this Friday afternoon.
In Metro Manila, Energy secretary Alfonso Cusi backed Chua’s proposal for a shortened workweek and the extension of work-from-home arrangement.
Iloilo City, Metro Manila and several parts of the country have been placed under the most relaxed Alert Level 1 for the month of March.
Alert Level 1 allows all workers of the government and the private sector to return to their workplaces to stimulate economic activities.
On Tuesday, Duterte decided to retain the collection of excise taxes on petroleum products despite the nonstop fuel price hikes.
He made the decision after Finance secretary Carlos Dominguez III warned that suspending the collection of fuel excise taxes would reduce the total government revenues by P105.9 billion in 2022.
He instead approved Dominguez’s proposal to distribute P200 monthly subsidies to around 12 million poor Filipinos for one year. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
