Senator Raffy Tulfo urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to enter into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with local government units (LGUs) to require all employers to release the 13th-month pay of employees on or before Dec. 24, 2022.
In the joint hearing of the Senate Committee on Labor and Employment and Human Resources Development on Oct. 4, Tulfo said the DOLE should sign the MOA with the Business Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO) to block the renewal of business permits of non-compliant and non-paying employers.
Tulfo said the MOA should highlight that companies renewing their business permits should first present evidence to the BPLO that they have already given their employees’ the 13th-month pay and that the pay was released on time.
“It’s almost Christmas. This is the time of the year when our workers are hoping to receive their 13th-month pay,” Tulfo said.
Oftentimes, employers do not give workers’ 13th-month pay, Tulfo said.
Under the law, employees must receive their 13th-month pay on or before December 24 of each year. Yet despite a law in place, he said many Filipino employers are not paying their workers the said government-mandated compensation.
Tulfo, a veteran broadcaster and public servant who hosts “Wanted sa Radyo,” said he already handled several complaints from aggrieved Filipino workers who did not receive their 13th- month pay.
Tulfo, the Vice Chairperson of the Committee on Labor and Employment also told DOLE Asec. Leonard Constantine-Serrano that merely issuing advisories requiring employers to release their employees’ 13th-month pay will not work, as Serrano suggested.
To alert employers about this MOA, Tulfo suggested that DOLE should issue an official statement before the media warning erring employers of the possible non-renewal of their business permits should they fail to comply with the department’s order.
