MANILA – The Department of Finance (DOF) has yet to commit to the proposal for the government to subsidize the 13th month pay of workers of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) greatly affected by the pandemic.
“I have asked Sec. (Silvestre) Bello (III) for the details of his proposal so we can determine if we have the budget cover for it,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III told journalists in a Viber message Wednesday.
Bello, in a radio interview, said the Labor Department is considering the proposal of employers for government aid for their workers.
He, however, maintained that employers are mandated by Presidential Decree (PD) 851 to extend 13th-month pay to their staff on or before December 24 of every year.
The government has already provided subsidies to MSME workers after the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was raised over Luzon from the middle of March until end-April, which was extended until the end of May for Metro Manila.
This is through the Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) program, which extended about PHP5,000 to PHP8,000 cash aid to MSME workers.
The Social Security System (SSS), which was tapped to process the subsidy applications, said it has returned to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) about PHP5 billion allocated for this program after only 91 percent of the targeted 3.4 million MSME employees availed of the program. (PNA)
