SENATE President Vicente Sotto 3rd’s heart may be in the right place, but his bill mandating “14th month pay” for all non-government workers is a potential disaster for Philippine labor and the economy, and must be rejected.

Sotto’s Senate Bill 2, which he hopes will become the “14th Month Pay Law,” was filed in June 2016. It has received little attention and no public hearings to consider its merits have been conducted since then. In spite of this, Sotto remains “hopeful” it can be passed by the Senate next month.