The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) warns that the Philippines currently enjoys too many holidays, something the group says serves to reduce the competitiveness of the country and its attractiveness to foreign investors.
ECOP president Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. told DZXL News recently that the Philippines already observes an inordinately high number of holidays and that there is no need to add more to the list.
In his interview he noted that the celebrations of holidays in the country continue to grow, from observations of religious and political ones to national holidays and local holidays as well as ethnic holidays and holidays due to calamities.
These holidays are adding up, on top of the vacation and sick leaves provided to the workforce by companies, Ortiz-Luis continued.
The effect is to make the country uncompetitive and unattractive to investors. “It’s a disincentive dun sa mga namumuhunan, lalo pa nga kung foreigner yung namumuhunan dito at nakikita nila yung number of holidays na madalas nadadagdagan pa ng mga special holidays,” said Ortiz-Luis in a mix of English and Filipino.
(“It’s a disincentive to capitalists, particularly foreign capitalists who see the number of holidays and how this is being expanded by the addition of special holidays.”)
We’re becoming too expensive, he further stated, noting that it has an adverse impact particularly on workers on no-work-no pay arrangement and on the services sector such as the transportation industry.
“Masarap pakinggan yung holiday-holiday, wala kang trabaho, pero napakarami na nating holidays. Huwag na nating dagdadagan.”
(“It’s nice to hear that it’s another holiday and you have no work, but there are just too many. Let’s not add to it.”)
To trim the number of these events, Ortiz-Luis suggests looking into the possibility of combining some of them, commemorating special occasions without turning them into non-working days, and localizing the celebrations to certain areas or regions where the event holds a special meaning.
