For those who read my entry last week, here’s the continuation:

The office issued a memorandum in relation to what happened last week—the great flood which was caused by “Bagyong Habagat” as what my friends called it, because although according to PAGASA, it was just a rain caused by southwest monsoon, it still caused massive death and damage to properties. It contains grammatical errors though, so I am begging for your understanding.

Well, teachers like me, who were able to survive nature’s wrath for a few days were lucky. I was somehow able to make it because there was no flood from EDSA (along the entrance of Malibay) to EDSA (Megamall) and on my way to the office that was why I did not have any valid reason to be absent at work.
I prayed hard that there would be no vehicular accident of any kind along the road because my mother would curse me to my grave when I die due to going to work amidst heavy rain. Well, I was able to complete my attendance, that’s why as of now, my four-digit incentive is still safe.

Now, how about the others? I am not a selfish bitch so I am not extremely happy that I was spared from deductions or any form of punishment, while my friends and other colleagues were suffering the consequences of their unwanted absences. The punishment of not going to work due to flood and the dangers it might cause would affect not only their daily rate but also their hard-earned attendance incentives and their performance incentives as well.

Based on the first part of the memo, teachers who were brave enough to go to work will receive an additional thirty percent of our daily rate. On the other hand, no work no pay would apply to those who were not able to go to work. That was fair, wasn’t that?

Oh by the way, last August 7^th, our beloved president himself declared the cancellation of work throughout NCR and in other places. But it seemed that the higher-ups in this office are more powerful than him. Does no work, no pay apply on this day?

ARE THEY?

On the second part, teachers need to prove that their places were flooded and the HR will convert their absence to service incentive leave. But what if,their barangays were not flooded but the roads to the office had been submerged in the water? How would they be able to go to work? The HR Manager told us that teachers should exert effort at least, but didn’t she understand that our lives would be endangered and we also have families who depend on us? What kind of effort did we need to show? Did we have to swim on dirty waters? Did we have to fly? Are the news from the radio, TV or internet not enough?

Getting a barangay certificate is an inconvenience for most of my colleagues. First, the government officials have been busy accommodating the needs of the people who need to be relocated. They have been busy packing relief goods so we couldn’t blame them if they yell at people who disturbed their work. Also, government offices were closed on those days when the rain was pouring mercilessly. Finally, there were some of my colleagues whose places were safe but the roads where they would be passing by were flooded, so would they be given certificates as well?

“Service Incentive Leave” or SIL, a paid leave of absence and this is applicable only to those who had rendered at least one year of service in this company, as per our company’s policy which is in accordance to Article 95 of Philippine Labor Code.  In the previous companies where I worked, I actually enjoyed using my SIL once I signed my regularization contract (6 months). It was up to me if I wanted to consume my five-day leave at once. On the other hand, I was a bit confused because in our company, the HR computes the number of days that a person can avail on a certain period. But that’s not enough because the HR would still assess whether your reason is valid or not. In my case, I wanted to use three days of my SIL last July 23-25, 2012 because of my wedding, but only two days had been approved. I was disappointed because I had to choose between July 23-24 and July 24-25. Since my big day was on the 24^th, I chose the latter.

Going back to the topic, why in the hell would they convert the teachers’ absences to SIL when they were suffering and not having their vacation? Losing someone’s relatives and properties while beating the harsh weather should never be categorized as “vacation”. I might have overlooked, could someone enlighten me which part of Philippine Labor Code which states that in terms of emergency, a person can convert his absence to “service incentive leave”?

Fort the third part of the memo, those who have rendered less than a year’s service in our company are not entitled to service incentive leave and thus, would be saying goodbye to their four-digit perfect attendance incentive (PAI) plus the daily deductions. Oh wait, they had revised that part. According to them, we’ll not be saying goodbye to our PAI right away. For every absence, five hundred pesos will be deducted. Let’s say that a teachers PAI is two thousand pesos and he was absent for four consecutive days because his house had been submerged in waters. That was double deduction on his part when the company could have offered any kind of assistance. Could they be at least be considerate and implement emergency leave at the very least?

And on the last part, perfect attendance incentive will not be affected for those teachers who were able to go to work early or on time (4:45 AM) as well as those who were late (4:46 onwards). Please take note that teachers should log in at 4:45 or earlier because 4:46-4:59 AM is called “call-in-time” late (since 4:45 is our CALL TIME) and five hundred pesos will be deducted from your PAI and on 5:00 AM onwards is called “late-in-time” (our OFFICIAL TIME is 5 AM). Had I known it, I wouldn’t risk getting up earlier since everyone of us, those who were able to come to work on time or otherwise,  would be treated equally anyway. But of course, I understand that each of us did our part to go to work earlier but it was not easy.

I feel sorry for my colleagues. Even though I will not be one of those who will frown this pay day, I still empathize with them because it was clearly not their fault. According to the weather forecast, heavy rains should be expected and what happened last week was just the start of more rainy days to come, and who knows I might be the next.  This event really shows how unfair and inconsiderate some private companies are. This shows that there are a lot of private company owners whose concern is only on their profit, but take the safety and security of the employees for granted. I hope the government will take a look at this matter.