MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday urged

businesses to consider giving in advance their employees’ 13-month pay

or half of their salaries as the country fights the coronavirus disease
(COVID-19).
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“‘Yun sanang malalaking enterprises dito, maybe you can consider

paying the 13th month pay or just paying them maski kalahati sa sweldo
nila as a way of showing your solidarity with the Filipino at this critical
time,” Duterte said in a televised speech.

(The big enterprises here, maybe you can consider paying the 13th-month
pay or just paying them even just half of their salaries as a way of
showing your solidarity with the Filipino at this critical time.)

Duterte earlier placed the entire Luzon on an enhanced community

quarantine where “strict home quarantine shall be implemented in all
households; transportation shall be suspended; provision for food and
essential services shall be regulated; and heightened presence of
uniformed personnel to enforce quarantine procedures will be
implemented.”
Health officials have so far recorded 140 cases, including 12 fatalities,
related to COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus
that first emerged in China’s city of Wuhan in Hubei province in late
2019. The country is currently under a state of public health emergency
due to the virus, which originated from Hubei province in China.
The Philippine government has also upgraded its alert on COVID-19
from Code Red Sublevel 1 to Sublevel 2, which is hoisted when there is
evidence of community transmission and prevalence of cases beyond
what the government can address.