MANILA – Most of the employers in the private sector have no capacity to give benefits to its employees similar to what the government can give to state workers, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said.
“Small businesses cannot afford to give that much,” ECOP acting president Sergio Ortiz-Luis told GMA News Online.
The ECOP official was asked if the private sector can give the same benefits as the government gives to its workers.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) earlier announced that employees working for government agencies that generated savings will receive another cash incentive not exceeding P25,000 in December.
The said cash incentive is on top of the year-end bonus and P5,000 cash gift for state workers beginning November 15.
ECOP’s Ortiz-Luis said that 99.6 percent of businesses in the Philippines are micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), of which 90 percent are small.
MSMEs also employ 62 percent of the country’s workforce, according to the Department of Trade and Industry.
“So common sense will tell that most of the businesses cannot afford what the government can give,” he said.
However, he said that big companies can give its employees better benefits package such as up to 16th month pay.
But large corporations only account for the remaining 0.4 percent of total enterprises in the country.
“We welcome the government for giving its employees more benefits as it can set an example to the private sector,” Ortiz-Luis said.
“It’s really up to the government because they can afford it,” he said. (GMA News)
