MANILA, Philippines — The country's biggest employer, the national government, is taking the lead on sustaining its workers as business got essentially shut off the main Luzon island under a month-long community quarantine.
"All national government employees are receiving their full salaries even if they are working from their homes," Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado said in a text message to Philstar.com.
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Contractors and casuals covered by job orders will also get paid as scheduled, he added.
The assurance from the budget chief to more than 1.36 million state workers as of May 2019 is a welcome reprieve to employees wary about the potential repercussions the lockdown brings to their source of income.
The relief is more felt by 159,935 casuals and contractors who according to data from the Civil Service Commission typically receive fixed payments, depending on work done, but whose job is currently halted by the lockdown.
Government offices are currently working on skeletal force, meaning not everyone are required to report to their offices, as a social distancing measure meant to prevent the further spread of coronavirus disease- 2019 (COVID-19).
From just locking down Metro Manila last Sunday, President Duterte expanded the community quarantine to the entire Luzon just a day after, increasing the number of people in isolation five times to more than 61 million.
Officials and businesses agree the order was sensible, inasmuch as 50.3% of present 187 confirmed cases of the disease were detected in Metro Manila alone as of Wednesday morning. On the flip side, business and commerce took a hit, prompting Duterte to appeal to the private sector to support their workers.
13th month pay
Unlike some private companies like PLDT Inc. and Manila Electric Co. however, Avisado said "there is no directive from the President yet" to release the 13th month pay of state workers way ahead schedule.
In a related development, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines said in a statement it would also release half of the 13th month pay of its employees and legal clerks by April 15. Meanwhile, state employees are only scheduled to receive half of their 13th month pay by May 15.
"There is no directive since our workers are even able to save money because they do not need to commute everyday to their offices because work is suspended, and most importantly, they are with their families," Avisado said in Filipino.
"The focus of the government now is to help our poor families that are hand-to-mouth existence, the daily wage earners," he added.
The government appears to slowly unveil countermeasures to the potential impact of the lockdown and COVID-19 containment efforts to jobs, businesses and the overall economy.
At the start of the Luzon lockdown last Monday evening, economic managers unveiled a P27.1-billion economic package, an initial fiscal buffer deployed to support tourism, jobs and purchase of medical supplies like much-needed testing kits.
On Tuesday, the Department of Labor and Employment said it set aside P180 million from its budget to provide a one-time P5,000 cash assistance to displaced private workers by the COVID-19 response and quarantine.