The provincial and city governments of Iloilo are open to the recommendation of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to adopt a four-day workweek amid increasing fuel prices.

The city government is ready to start the new schedule as Mayor Jerry P. Treñas, on the official Facebook page, announced that the four-day workweek will be implemented at the city hall to help employees cope with the oil price hike while seriously studying other recommended measures for energy conservation.

“The city will start adopting the four-day workweek as suggested by NEDA chief Karl Chua starting the week after next. This will give our employees time to adjust their schedules both in work and in their homes,” the mayor announced.

Treñas added that the city government will also be using modern jeepneys for the daily transport of employees from district plazas to the city hall.

Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. said that the provincial government is also considering the implementation of the four-day workweek at the capitol.

“As I have said before when we were starting to talk about the oil price hike, one of the things that we can do is to help the conservation measures of the government and that is one of them. Simply put, if you reduce the number of working days in one week for our employees, then the fuel consumption also decreases,” he said in a press conference.

In fact, the provincial government already implemented it last year not because of the fuel price increase but due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) health emergency.

Defensor said that during that period, provincial government employees rendered 10 hours of work a day for four days although it was not done simultaneously, so the capitol still operates five days a week.

“We can already do this because it’s in our COVID-19 EO (Executive Order) 175 in the alternative work arrangement provision for government offices. We can do that because we are under Alert Level 2. We can implement that for both COVID-19 reason and oil price hike,” he said.

The governor though will be meeting with concerned offices of the capitol on Friday afternoon, March 18.PNA