Persida Rueda Acosta

Dear PAO, Since March 2017, I am employed as a Master Fisherman in a local shipping company in Cebu City. Recently, I signed a contract with our employer for a monthly salary of P30,000. In the said employment contract, I was directed to report from Monday to Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. However, due to the nature of my job and lack of onboard staff, I often render services until 12 midnight or wee hours in the morning almost every day.

Dear PAO, First of all, I would like to state that I have been an avid reader of your column, and it has been of big help as I navigate my daily life here in the Philippines because it enables me to understand Philippine laws better. I am a recognized refugee by the Philippine government and was given such status three years ago. As a brief background, I have been working in the call center industry here in the Philippines for two years.

Dear PAO, I am sixty-five years old and had just retired from my current company (Company B). I was with them for five years. When I received my retirement pay from them, I saw that it was subjected to tax. When I asked the Human Resource Department as to why my retirement pay was taxed when my retirement pay from my previous company (Company A) was not, they said that my retirement pay now is already taxable. I was with Company A for 30 years.