Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

HOUSE BILLNo._ 5237

introduced by Honorable Winston “Winnie” Castelo

€xplanatory Note

The switch from an eight-hour, Monday to Friday work week,
or 8/5, to a ten-hour, Monday to Thursday work week, or 10/4,
could produce tremendous savings for workers and employers.
alike — if and when implemented in the public and private sectors.

The ten-hour, four-day, or 10/4, work week is being proposed
to address the rising prices of goods and services and stagnant
wages.

It is premised on this assertion: If wages couki not be raised
due to multifaceted factors, which include the employers’
aversion to legislated wage hikes, the alternative is to lessen the
workers’ expenditures.

The proposed 10/4 work week addresses the changing work
environment, which is now characterized by the following:

1. increasing business process outsourcing, where even
the core business functions of many private firms, big or
small, are contracted to outside service providers;

2. declining unionism, where only 200,000 unionized
workers have collective bargaining agreements, and where
trade unions have generally become ineffective to force
employers to raise wages or grant benefits;

3. growing “informalization” of the formal sector, where
many corporations and other business enterprises in the
formal sector opt to become part of the informal sector, or
the so-called “underground economy,” where firms do not
pay taxes, do not issue receipts, and do not register
themselves for appropriate state regulation;


4. — subcontracting, and other decadent employer-employee
relationship like the so-called “five-month work contract” to
circumvent the provisions of the Labor Code; and

5. _ other labor issues like rising unemployment and
underemployment, wage cuts, and rising incidents of
nonpayment of workers’ benefits for social security, health
insurance, among others.

The advantages of the 10/4 work week scheme far outweigh the
disadvantages.

The 10/4 work week could provide the following benefits to
workers:

4. Greater morale and productivity for workers since he is
not financially, physically, and mentally drained to attend to
his work;

2. The extended weekend would enable workers to spend
greater time with their families, providing them the domestic
stability;

3. The extra day-off would enable workers to pursue other
interest like learning or retooling themselves with new skills
that would be necessary to the workplace;
4. The additional day-off would also enable workers to
pursue their hobbies and leisure.

Also, the 10/4 proposed work schedule could mean enormous

‘savings, placed conservatively at 20 percent of a worker's weekty
expenditures while going to work and retuming home.

If a worker in Metro Manila spends P200 a day in transport fare,
food and snacks, and other expenses in going to work, or P1,000
every week, the 10/4 work week will mean a savings of P200 per
week,

For workers in the provinces, who spend a daily average of
P100 or less, the weekly savings could be P100 or less.

Overall, the proposed 10/4 work week could mean weekly
savings amounting to at least P20 billion for the over 20 million
Private sector workers and 1.5 miltion state employees.


For employers, which include the government and private
business enterprises, the savings on maintenance and operational
expenditures are enormous. Costs otherwise spent on electric
bills, water bills, gasoline, tetecommunications services on Friday
could be rechanneted for other productive purposes.



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City
FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

37
HOUSE BILL NO, 528%

Introduced by Honorable Winston “Winnie” Castelo

AN ACT
MANDATING FOUR-DAY WORK WEEK IN PUBLIC AND
PRIVATE SECTORS, REQUIRING THEREBY TEN HOURS OF
WORK DAILY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Be it enacted in the Senate and the House of Representatives of
the Republic of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1: This Act shail be known as the “Ten-Hour,
Four-Day Work Week Act of 2011.”

SECTION 2: Coverage of this Act: This mandates a four-day
work week starting from Monday to Thursday in public and private
sectors, thereby requiring workers to render ten hours of work daily
during the said period.

SECTION 3: Exemption: In the interest of emergency,
security, natural disasters, and other justifiable reasons, the strict
observance of this Act may be waived upon the judgment of the
head of a government agency, or a private enterprise, or when the
exigency of services so requires.

SECTION 4: Violation: The pertinent provisions of
Presidential Decree No. 442, or the Labor Code of the Philippines
@s amended, will apply on heads of government agencies and
Private enterprises and other responsible persons, who are found
to have violated provisions of this Act.


SECTION 5: Repeal: All laws, decrees, executive orders,
‘and rules and regulations inconsistent with the provisions of this
Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 6: Implementation: This Act shall take effect sixty
(60) days after its ¢ publication in the Official Gazette and
e ‘of general circulation.