THE PHILIPPINE government wants to move office hours for agencies an hour earlier and allow workers to work from home on Fridays to save energy costs, according to its Finance chief.
“The complaint we get is that energy costs are so high,” Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno told a televised news briefing on Tuesday. “We said that we will create an energy conservation plan on the demand side.”
“We cannot influence the supply side if prices of gas are expensive in the world market. But we can start conserving,” he added.
Under the proposal, government office hours will run from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Department of Energy will be the first to enforce it. “If this experiment succeeds, it can be adopted by other agencies,” Mr. Diokno said. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson