DOLE issues pay guidelines for Ninoy Aquino Day

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Monday reminded employers of payment guidelines for Ninoy Aquino Day on Friday, August 23. 

Ninoy Aquino Day was initially set at August 21 (Wednesday), but the Palace moved the celebration to August 23 (Friday) to create a long weekend. This is in accordance with the holiday economics practice, which is a bid to spur domestic tourism. 

According to the DOLE Advisory No. 9-A, Ninoy Aquino Day is a special, non-working holiday, hence employees working on that day will get an additional 30% of their salary on top of the regular pay for the first eight hours. 

“For work done in excess of eight hours, the employer shall pay the employee an additional 30% of the hourly rate on said day,” said the DOLE Advisory. 

If an employee is working on their rest day on Ninoy Aquino Day, their additional pay is 50% of their basic wage for the first eight hours.

“For work done in excess of eight hours during the special day that also falls on the employee’s rest day, the employer shall pay the employee an additional 30% of the hourly rate on the said day,” the advisory added. 

On the other hand, if the employee does no work that day, the “no work, no pay” principle will apply unless there is a favorable company policy, practice or collective bargaining agreement that grants pay on the holiday. 

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s decision to move Ninoy Aquino Day prompted concerns of historical distortion. Ninoy Aquino Day commemorates the day that Aquino was gunned down in the Manila International Airport. Aquino was the political rival of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the president’s father. 

In a statement, the Aquino family said "moving a day of commemoration will not diminish the fact that Ninoy died fighting for the country and the people he so loved and his death sparked a revolution that ended Marcos Sr.'s authoritarian rule."