Businesses hit long holiday

CEBU, Philippines - Students may be happy with long weekends but the business sector is opposed to the numerous holidays in the country and the extension of weekends which greatly affect the operation of the companies.

Robert Go, former regional governor for the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that they are hoping that the long weekends and the “double holidays” will be reconsidered by the government.

Go said that there are too many long weekends that greatly affect businesses especially those that are yet coping with the global financial crisis.

“Every long weekend adds expense for business and also loss of time. Many companies operate 24 hours seven days a week so they have to continue working and no change in work schedule yet they have to pay extra for the work on holiday,” he added.

Go said that foreign investors are also complaining with the holiday pay while many are not getting anything for the holidays at all.

“We have just too many long weekends and this is disrupting business flow,” said Go who added that there are also a lot of these holidays that are not announced in advance so they do not have the time to prepare.

He said that they are appealing to minimize the number of holidays in the country since there are also a lot of new holidays being made which are redundant or being celebrated again but labeled another name for the celebration.

There are already two long weekends set, from October 31 to November 2 and November 27 to 30.

He said that with December coming, there will be more holidays and long weekends. – AJ de la Torre/BRP (THE FREEMAN)