Workers in Executive branch get half day off on Holy Wednesday

TO give government workers a head start during the Holy Week exodus, Malacañang declared a half-day work suspension on April 5, 2023.

On Friday, Executive Secretary

Lucas P. Bersamin issued Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 16, which suspended work in government offices from 12 p.m. onwards next Wednesday. The Palace stressed MC 16 will only apply to government offices under the Executive branch of the government.

Bersamin said the move aims to allow public servants to “properly observe” the regular holidays on April 6 and 7, 2023 and to allow them to travel to and from different regions in the country. MC 16, however, does not cover agencies, whose functions involve the delivery of basic health services, preparedness to disasters and calamities, and/or the performance of other vitals services.

Also excluded from the coverage of the issuance are employees of the private sector.

“The suspension of work in private companies and offices is left to the sound decision of their respective employers,” Bersamin said.

Filipinos usually mark the Holy Week, which is a long weekend, by traveling to their

DILG: LGUs cannot require seniors to be registered voters to get benefits

REGISTRATION as voters is not required for senior citizens to get benefits from the LGUs. The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has just issued its circular to all local government units (LGUs) to make this clear, according to senior citizens rights advocate, lawyer Romulo Macalintal.

Macalintal said he just received a letter from Director Anna Liza Bonagua of DILG informing him that, in response to his letter to the DILG dated December 12, 2022, the DILG recently issued Memorandum Circular MC 2023-045, dated March 17, 2023 which, among others, provide that “senior citizens need not be registered as voters to avail” of benefits extended by law.

The DILG Circular likewise “clarified that benefits for senior citizens given by LGUs exclusively within their jurisdiction should not limit the residency proof to voter’s registration ID only.”

Macalintal said that Section 5.2 of the DILG Memorandum Circular emphasized that “LGUs may not require additional requirements for senior citizens availing of the benefits mentioned in RA 7432 [Senior Citizens Law], as amended. LGUs cannot pass ordinance requiring senior citizens to be registered as voters in order to avail the benefits provided by law.”

“Section 6 of the said circular mandates that it takes effect immediately,” Macalintal added.

The DILG also expressed its “deepest gratitude for [Macalintal’s] efforts in promoting the welfare of our senior citizens.”

In December 2022, Macalintal wrote a letter to DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos to clarify why certain LGUs require senior citizens within their jurisdiction to be registered as voters to get benefits from the LGUs. Macalintal said that such a requirement is unconstitutional because it makes mandatory the registration of voter when it is clear that registration as voter is merely voluntary.

Macalintal also stressed that laws on senior citizens rights do not require registration as voter as a requirement for an elderly to be entitled to senior citizens benefits.

Macalintal thanked Secretary Abalos and the entire staff of DILG for their prompt action on such a very important issue.

“With this very significant development, I am confident that our senior citizens will no longer find it difficult to claim their benefits from their respective LGUs,” Macalintal said.