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Fiscal Incentives Review Board says its resolution on work-from-home arrangement for IT-BPM enterprises employees is good only until March 31
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The Philippine Economic Zone Authority Board earlier proposed extension of the setup until September 12
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FIRB also disapproved lifting the moratorium on economic zone development in Metro Manila
The Fiscal Incentives Review Board upheld its resolution allowing work-from-home for registered information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) enterprises only until March 31.
“The work-from-home arrangement is only a time-bound temporary measure adopted during the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the increasing vaccination rate of Filipinos nationwide, we can now undertake safe measures for physical reporting of employees, including those working in the IT-BPM firms operating within ecozones and freeports,” Finance Secretary and FIRB chairman Carlos Dominguez III said during a recent FIRB meeting.
“The employees’ return to the office would provide more opportunities and pave the way for the recovery of local micro, small, and medium enterprises that depend on IT-BPM employees for their livelihood,” he added.
The decision of the Cabinet-level interagency board to stand by FIRB Resolution No. 19-21 denies the request of certain groups to implement extensions to the adoption of the WFH arrangement for the IT-BPM sector until after March 2022.
READ: PEZA seeks temporary easing of WFH rule for IT-BPO firms
FIRB also turned down a request to lift the moratorium on economic zone development in Metro Manila under Administrative Order No. 18 issued in 2019.
The board stood firm on the Duterte administration’s thrust to increase investments outside Metro Manila and emphasized that AO18 still complements the government’s strategies and policies on rural development, aligned with the objectives of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act.
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority Board earlier proposed to FIRB a policy to allow registered IT-business process outsourcing enterprises to temporarily adopt the work-from-home arrangement without the 10% onsite capacity setup and without losing fiscal incentives until September 12.
The recommended temporary measure cites Rule 23, Section 3 (d) of the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 11534, or the CREATE Act.
Rule 23, entitled Temporary Measures for Exceptional Circumstances, states that an investment promotion agency may implement temporary measures to support the recovery of registered business enterprises from exceptional circumstances, with prior approval from FIRB.
The proposal follows FIRB’s denial last year of PEZA’s request to exempt IT-BPO firms from Resolution No. 19-21 and to reconsider keeping the work-from-home scheme put in place when the pandemic began.
Resolution 19-21 allows registered businesses in the IT-BPM sector to continue with the arrangements until March 31 without adversely affecting their fiscal incentives under the CREATE Act.
Under the resolution, up to 90% of the registered businesses’ total workforce may work from home because of the pandemic, which means at least 10% should work on-site.
The IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines, however, called on the national government to allow as many employees as possible to work from home to avoid catching COVID-19 in their offices.
