Relieving the Hotel Industry from Additional Financial Legal Obligations
Letter of Instructions No. 573, issued on July 12, 1977, addresses challenges faced by the Philippine hotel industry, which is struggling due to issues within both its sector and the airline industry. To support this nascent industry, the directive suspends the implementation of a monthly emergency allowance of P60.00 for hotel employees and delays the enforcement of a Department of Tourism circular regarding service charge collection. This suspension aims to alleviate financial burdens on hotels until they stabilize and allows collective bargaining agreements made during this period to exclude service charge provisions. The letter emphasizes the importance of assessing the total impacts of these measures before any final decisions are made.
July 12, 1977
LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 573
| TO | : | The Secretary of Labor |
| The Secretary of Tourism |
WHEREAS, the hotel business is at present beset with problems attendant to an infant industry and aggravated by the effects of the problems facing the airlines industry;
WHEREAS, there is a need to support the hotel industry considering its potential earnings of foreign exchange and the financial investments of the government;
WHEREAS, the hotel industry should not, for the moment, be saddled with additional financial legal obligations until it shall have recovered from the difficulties it is now encountering;
Accordingly —
1. The implementation of the additional emergency allowance of P60.00 per month provided for under Presidential Decree No. 1123 shall be held in abeyance until further ordered. aisa dc
2. The implementation of Circular No. 6 series of 1976 of the Department of Tourism relative to the stopping of the collection of service charge and the integration of the same into the salaries of hotel employees should be suspended until its total effects on the hotel industry shall have been finally determined by appropriate agencies. However, any collective bargaining entered into during the suspension of the said DOT Circular, shall not include any provision on the collection of service charge until a final policy on the matter is decided.
DONE in the City of Manila, this 12th day of July, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Seven. cdt