'A lot of our member companies will give the money to their employees as an additional benefit rather than spend it on extravagant parties,' said Sergio Ortiz-Luiz, president of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines .The ECOP, which has more than 600 members, is the umbrella organization and single voice for the entire business community on important national issues related to employment.
But Ortiz-Luis said that the same could not be done by small establishments which comprised more than 90 percent of businesses in the country.Record shows that 99.6 percent of companies in the Philippines are micro, small and medium enterprises or MSME but they contribute 30 percent to the country's gross domestic product and 60 percent to job generation.