Even before the government could announce the granting of non-monetary benefits to wage earners across the country, The Philippine STAR delivered an early Christmas package of economic relief to its close to 1,000 employees.
In a meeting held Wednesday, STAR president and CEO Miguel Belmonte announced that all STAR employees would receive 18 months pay starting next year when the company observes its 20th anniversary.
The STAR had been giving its employees up to 17 months pay as of 2005, and will now give them five months more than the mandated 13 months. The 18th-month pay will be given in addition to yearly cash gifts of P10,000 during Easter and P5,000 at Christmastime.
According to Belmonte, The STAR, which is recognized as the biggest print media company in the country, pours back sizeable portions of its profits on investments to its workforce through both wage and non-wage benefits.
"As much as the company can, I believe in helping our people by way of these benefits so that they and their families can enjoy the fruit of their hard work," Belmonte said.
At the same time, Belmonte also announced a new housing project for STAR employees to be inaugurated in Laguna next year. This will be the second housing program for STAR employees, with about 150 of them already benefiting from the first STAR housing project opened in 1992 in Kapayapaan Village in Canlubang, Laguna.
In anticipation of transportation requirements for the new housing project, The STAR recently acquired three brand-new imported Mitsubishi Rosa 34-seater shuttle buses at a cost of P9 million to add to the present fleet that ferries employees to and from their Laguna homes.
Belmonte said that as public transport fares and gasoline prices head upward with the implementation of the expanded value-added tax, these new vehicles should provide much-needed transport assistance to STAR employees who will avail of housing units in Laguna.
Speaking for the board of directors of The STAR, Dr. Ronnie Asuncion said they fully support the endeavors strongly pushed by Belmonte for employees of the company.
The STAR has not had an employees’ union throughout its history, with Belmonte himself handling the company’s personnel requirements.
"Anything about finances, we let Miguel take charge of that, but the board totally supports him because we feel that the successful operations of our organization through these years is to the credit of our dedicated and loyal employees," Asuncion noted.
When the prospect of rising prices loomed early this year, The STAR was one of the first to grant its employees an across-the-board salary increase of P1,000 a month, ahead of the government-approved P25-a-day wage hike.
Even daily wage earners benefit from The STAR’s generosity, earning P330 a day compared to the P275 a day mandated for minimum wage workers in Metro Manila. Regular employees also receive a P2,000 cost-of-living allowance a month, which again is higher than the P1,500 provided for under existing laws.
Ronaldo Ramos, 36, and one of the beneficiaries of the first STAR housing project, fondly remembers how he was able to acquire his "dream home" 14 years ago with the help of the company.
Earning the minimum wage as a bachelor back then, Ramos was able to secure a housing loan, for which he pays a monthly amortization of P1,600 through salary deductions.
Since then, Ramos, his wife and daughter have been living in their own home, a single detached unit that sits on a 128-square-meter lot.
Ramos started as a magazine binder for STARWeek magazine in 1997, and later worked as a janitor in the printing press. He now works as a copy monitor in The STAR’s editorial department.
He recalls that when The STAR’s late founding chairman Betty Go-Belmonte and son Miguel, then the personnel manager, took note of the transport concerns of the housing beneficiaries, the mother-and-son team decided to provide shuttle services to subsidize the employees’ cost of transport from the housing project to The STAR offices in Port Area, Manila.
"Si Boss Miguel ang bumili noon ng Francisco jeep, Bida pick-up at Canter para maging shuttle namin," Ramos said.
In 1998, these vehicles were replaced after the company procured three air-conditioned 30-seater Kia shuttle buses. In 2002, a Mitsubishi mini-bus was added to the fleet. These vehicles have since been transporting the housing beneficiaries at a subsidized two-way fare of P20 each, which is much lower than the standard P69 one-way bus fare. The P20 goes to the maintenance of the vehicles.
The latest shuttle buses will be similarly fielded in three shifts for The STAR housing beneficiaries who will avail themselves of the new housing program.
Although two possible sites are still being considered for the housing project, Belmonte assured STAR employees that the company will offer the same easy terms and conditions for those wishing to avail of the housing assistance.
"Laking pasasalamat ko nang magkaroon ako ng sariling bahay at lupa sa tulong ni Ma’m Betty," Ramos said.