Celeste Cortesi counters Chiz Escudero’s remark on PH holidays

Celeste Cortesi. Image: Instagram/@celeste_cortesi

Miss Universe Philippines 2022 Celeste Cortesi is one of the individuals who voiced her disapproval of Senate President Chiz Escudero’s suggestion of “reducing” local holidays, as she stressed that Filipino workers are already “overworked” and “underpaid.”

The beauty queen took to X (formerly Twitter) to repost Escudero’s holiday remark and underscore that “company owners will not go bankrupt” if workers have the holidays that they deserve.

“Ummm, but most Filipino workers are overworked and underpaid. Can we not just give those holidays to them? That’s only a few days of break, and I’m pretty sure the rich company owners will not go bankrupt. Just saying,” she said.

In a separate post, Cortesi stressed that productivity can be seen if employees get proper treatment. 

“As a business owner myself, I think productivity happens if your employees are valued and appreciated, not overworked,” remarked the beauty queen.

On Aug. 9, Escudero aired his sentiments that the Senate is eyeing limiting the approval of proposed local holidays to make the country “more competitive.” He later clarified in a follow-up interview that the Senate will not reduce the number of existing holidays in the country but will not only add more non-working holidays.

“The Senate’s policy is not to reduce holidays—just not add to already several holidays and, instead, rationalize the existing holidays so that these would not be a burden to employers forced to give double pay during holidays,” he said.

Escudero’s wife, actress Heart Evangelista, also came to the defense of her husband to stress that the Senate will not lessen the local holidays.

“Hindi po babawasan ang holiday (Holidays will not be lessen). Fake news. Hindi lang dadagdagan (They will not just add more),” she affirmed in an Instagram live, adding that people should calm down. 

After Escudero’s remark, Filipino workers took to social media to lament the Senate’s proposal.

“High productivity is achieved after vacations. Breaks are necessary; people need to ‘turn off’ their work to have a productive impact. Trust me, I’m part of HR. We encourage people to use their leaves to rest and reset. Please stop this idea,” explained one X user.

Image: X (formerly Twitter)

“May data ba sya to support that the number of holidays is inversely proportional to productivity? Nasubukan na ba nya spending 6 hours in traffic to go to and from work? Yan ang may epekto sa productivity! Analyze analyze din pag minsan,” pitched in another netizen.

(Does he have data to support that the number of holidays is inversely proportional to productivity? Have you tried it by spending 6 hours in traffic to go to and from work? That has an impact on productivity! Analyze once more.)