5-day calamity leave with pay pushed

The leaves can be applied for five straight working days or on staggered basis. #emergencyleave

A lawmaker has filed at the House of Representatives a bill that seeks to provide employees directly affected by natural calamities five days of paid leaves.

Under House Bill 5586 or “Calamity Leave Law” every employee who has rendered at least six months of service shall be entitled to five day special emergency leave each year with pay, in times of natural disasters.

The five-day emergency leave shall be available upon the declaration of state of calamity by the President or by the local government unit.

In case the area was not declared under state of calamity but was severely affected by natural disaster, the employer in the exercise of his sound discretion, may grant the special emergency leave to affected employee based on proof or evidence presented or news account.

Employees may avail of the leave on any of the following grounds: being stranded in affected areas, disease or illness due to disaster and urgent repair and clean-up of damaged house.

The leaves can be applied for five straight working days or on staggered basis and will not be deducted from the employee’s leave credits.

In pushing for the passage of the bill, its author AN Waray Partylist Rep. Florencio Gabriel Noel said Philippines’ geographical location makes it prone to numerous calamities and typhoons.

“This bill seeks to mitigate the losses of public and private employees whose homes are damaged, destroyed, or flooded due to calamities caused by typhoons, earthquakes and other causes.”

Meanwhile, Manila 3rd District Rep. John Marvin Neito has filed a bill providing for the construction of a multi-purpose gym in all municipalities and cities to serve as evacuation centers during times of calamity.

In the bill, he said public schools which are designated as evacuation centers are far from ideal to be utilized as an evacuation center as they lack many facilities to address the needs of displaced families.

A few days ago, the country bore the brunt of typhoon Tisoy’s wrath with damage to agriculture pegged at P811 million.

The typhoon left at least nine dead according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.