The private sector is not opposed to a four-day workweek to save on fuel expenses amid disruptions arising from the war in the Middle East, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said, but stressed it should be voluntary and complemented with incentives like removal of some burdensome taxes.
ECOP president Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. in live phone interviews with ABS-CBN News and DZXL News said that as long as it’s voluntary for companies, whose situations and requirements vary greatly, the industry sector supports a four-day workweek arrangement.
This is the reaction of the employers’ group to proposals for the business sector to implement a four-day workweek program after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. recently announced a similar scheme beginning March 9 for executive branch offices to reduce energy costs.
“We’re all apprehensive that these rising prices of fuel and electricity will influence other commodities. Transport and the supply chain will be affected and we don’t know what to expect,” he told ABS-CBN News.
“We have not even gone through the tariff problem from the US and we do not understand what will be charged to us, and then comes now the war in the Middle East, so we’re all awaiting and expecting the worst,” he continued.
Ortiz-Luis in interviews with the two media outlets on Monday, March 9, 2026, explained that some sectors are not fit for a four-day workweek or other hybrid work schemes, including companies in manufacturing, construction, healthcare, export, and education.
Small business operators are also not cut out for such an arrangement, as this will often entail additional costs such as paying overtime or hiring additional workers, he added.
Ortiz-Luis pointed out that some workers may not benefit as well, such as those on a no-work-no-pay contract and those who might lose their jobs from a hybrid work plan.
“Fortunately I don’t think it’s intended to be compulsory. So long as it’s implemented voluntarily for industry which has different situations, I guess it’s okay. But it cannot apply to everybody,” he told ABS-CBN News.
At the same time, he said employers need incentives to encourage the adoption of flexible work programs and mitigate the impact of rising energy costs, primarily the removal of excise taxes on fuel and electricity as well as the lifting of value-added taxes (VAT).
“…we do not think this problem of fuel cost should be borne by industries or the population… we’re the only country in this part of the world—Asia—which is not supporting or subsidizing cost of energy and we’re taxing it,” he continued.
“Other countries subsidize fuel; we don’t, we tax it. We’re just asking that the taxes be taken away,” he told ABS-CBN News.
Moreover, the private sector is appealing for VAT to be, if not removed, reduced at least.
“If that happens it can somehow blunt the cost of fuel and should not have much effect on us,” the business leader said.
Further, he said accelerating fuel costs should not be a concern for the people but for the government. “Dapat ang gubyerno ang tumutok diyan, huwag ipasa sa tao [The government should handle it, not pass it on to the people],” he told DZXL News, as he expressed support for the President’s move seeking permission to adjust excise taxes.
