On 13 August 1986, President Corazon C. Aquino, then exercising both executive and legislative authority, issued Memorandum Order No. 28 which provided as follows:

Sec. 1 Presidential Decree No. 851 is hereby modified to the extent that all employers are hereby required to pay all their rank-and-file employees a 13th month pay not later than December 24 of every year.

13th month pay is a form of monetary benefit equivalent to the monthly basic compensation received by an employee, computed pro-rata according to the number of months within a year that the employee has rendered service to the employer.

All establishments regardless of the number of employees are required to pay their rank-and-file employees the 13th month pay. All rank-and-file employees regardless of the nature of their employment, and irrespective of the methods by which they are paid, provided they worked for at least one month during a calendar year. The 13th month pay is computed based on 1/12 of the total basic salary of an employee within a calendar year, or basic monthly salary for the whole year divided by 12 months. Basic salary shall include all remunerations or earnings paid by an employer to an employee for services rendered, but does not include allowances and monetary benefits which are not considered, or integrated, as part of the regular, or basic, salary, such as the cash equivalent of unused vacation and sick leave credits, overtime, premium, night differential and holiday pay. Basic salary includes cost-of-living allowances.

Juan de la Cruz is also entitled to his 13-month pay for the year 2015 since he was not able to receive it by reason of his illegal dismissal.