Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House BILL No. 2930

Introduced by Rep. Precious Hipolito Castelo

EXPLANATORY 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 could not be raised due to multifaceted
factors, which include the employers’ general 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:

1. 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 interests 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 weekly expenditures while going to work
and returning 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 million 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, telecommunications services
on Friday could be rechanneled for other productive purposes.

The Immediate enactment of this bill is most earnestly sough



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House BILL No. 2990

Introduced by Rep. Precious Hipolito 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 shall be known as the “Ten-Hour, Four-Day Work Week
Act.”

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 as 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
complete publication in the Official Gazette and in at least three (3) newspapers of
general circulation.

Approved,