Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III welcomed the announcement of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla, Jr. that the BSP’s PHILPASS and cash servicing units would remain open during the Asean holidays from Nov. 13 to 15.
“The BSP is doing the banking sector, the business sector, and our countrymen a great service by doing this,” said Pimentel, who earlier urged the BSP to keep PHILPASS—the BSP’s check clearing system—up and running during the Asean summit.
“This is a positive development because it does not make sense for banking and business operations nationwide to be essentially paralyzed just because there is a three-day holiday in the nation’s capital; the Philippines, after all, is not just Metro Manila,” said the senator from Mindanao.
Espenilla earlier told the media that the BSP “will definitely operate PHILPASS” and its cash servicing units during the coming holidays.
According to Pimentel, the BSP governor’s directive, together with the decision of banks and the Philippine Stock Exchange to remain open during the Asean holidays, would ensure that “the country will be open for business, not just open for Asean.”
“Our hosting of the Asean Summit is an honor, and we should all work together to make it a success,” stressed the Senate chief.
“If there are steps that can be taken to minimize the disruptions in the lives and the livelihoods of our countrymen, then by all means let’s do what has to be done,” he added.
Nov. 13 to 15 have been declared special non-working holidays in Metro Manila, Pampanga and Bulacan, as these areas would be most affected by Asean events in the National Capital Region and Clark Field, Pampanga.
In addition, the Metro Manila Council also announced that classes in all school levels would be suspended on Nov. 16 and 17.
Pimentel stressed that businesses are adversely affected if Malacañang suspends work in government offices during events like a transport strike, or declares extended stretches of work suspensions because of activities like the Asean Summit and other related activities.
He cited the negative impact on the business sector by government directives suspending work in government offices in instances that do not include regular holidays nor inclement weather.
“I believe that at some point we have to rationalize and limit our national and local holidays because we already lose so many work days a year because of extreme weather phenomena like typhoons,” the senator said.
“If we want to attract investors and continue to grow our economy, we have to do this if we want to be able to compete with the other developing Asian economies,” he added.
Pimentel called on the Executive Department to exclude the units involved in check clearing of BSP from work suspension orders, to ensure that check clearing operations would remain uninterrupted.
“Because when check clearing operations are suspended, this disrupts the operations of many businesses who receive payments or must make payments,” he said.
Another consequence of the suspension of check clearing operations, added Pimentel, is the suspension of the operations of the Philippine Stock Exchange and the country’s banks.
Classes and work in government offices were suspended during the jeepney strike from October 16 to 17, with the private sector allowed to exercise discretion about suspending work. However, check clearing, one of the critical BSP operations, was suspended on October 16.
Thus, businesses were unable to make banking transactions on that day. Pimentel said these government work stoppages, on top of the country’s numerous national and local holidays, were bad for business.