The Department of Land Reform (DLR)-Ilocos Norte office, headed by Milton P. Pascua has adopted the four-day workweek schedule ordered by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo through Administrative Order No. 17.

“We are implementing this order because the agency’s thrust is not to be done on emergency or rush basis, particularly on making titles, conducting various trainings or making beneficiaries to become productive at once. It takes time for DLR employees to do their job assignments in the provincial office and in the field even for four days only,” a DLR employee commented on the shortened workweek.

The implementation of the shortened workweek took effect on April 4, 2005 and would last until May 31, 2005.

Among the objectives of the four-day workweek is to generate savings for the government already reeling from high oil prices and to afford employees to save on transport and meal expenses. Employees would save an average of P75 to P100 for the extra day off.

The shortened workweek is also still a part of austerity measures implemented by the national government in August 2004.

The DLR provincial office’s new schedule is Monday to Thursday, from 7:30 am to 6:30 pm.

The additional day off for employees are also expected to create income-generating opportunities for them.

Exempted from the four-day workweek are the government’s frontline service providers which include the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), the Philippine Coast Guard, the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and government hospitals and health centers among others.

Local government units however are not mandated to adopt the said order as it is the option of the local chief executive whether to follow Arroyo’s order or not.

Gertrude G. Albano