Next admin to decide on hybrid work — Plaza (Sabong News)
Author
Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat
Date
APRIL 01 2022
The next administration will have to institutionalize the hybrid work model for businesses registered with investment promotion agencies (IPAs) to encourage more investors to locate and expand in the country, Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Charito B. Plaza stressed.
“We will let the new administration address this new hybrid scheme to institutionalize the work from home (WFH) program and especially the ratio,” said Plaza in a virtual interview. Plaza said this as government agencies are sending mixed signals as to the adoption of hybrid work arrangement for registered business enterprises (RBEs) of PEZA.
At the same time, Plaza said they are allowing its RBEs to operate 70 percent onsite and 30 percent WFH as the 90-10 (WFH-onsite) work ratio allowed by the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) during the pandemic, expired last Thursday, March 31.
With the expiry of the 90-10 FIRB-approved work ratio, Plaza said they would revert to the original 70-30 work ratio, in favor of onsite, allowed under the PEZA rules for its RBEs.
“The present law says that 70-30 is the most that we can provide as a leeway,” she stressed. She added there will be no diminution of the tax incentives that RBEs enjoy from their PEZA registration.
The IT-Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) has already advised its members to submit until Thursday, March 31, their request to PEZA to implement the 70-30 work arrangement until June 30, 2022. Once approved, PEZA will then issue Letter of Authority (LOA) to the RBEs allowing them to operate 70-30 work arrangement without diminution of incentives.
She explained that the 70-30 ratio allowed by PEZA is based on its rule that allows its export-oriented RBEs to sell 30 percent of their production to the domestic market. “We have our own rules,” stressed Plaza amid pronouncements by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III that RBEs must return 100 percent to their onsite operation or lose their incentives.
In addition, Plaza pointed out that the 70-30 work ratio has been allowed by PEZA since 2018 under the Telecommuting Act. PEZA cited the likes of Amazon, which PEZA allowed to operate 70 percent onsite and 30 percent WFH because that has been the company’s business model in their global operations.
The FIRB approved the 90-10 work arrangement as government’s assistance to ecozone locators during the pandemic or until March 31 this year. Before its expiry, the PEZA Board approved a resolution requesting the FIRB to extend the 90-10 ratio at least until Sept. 2022, the deadline of the state of calamity declaration by the President.
The FIRB, however, denied the PEZA request for extension because the government has already placed the country under a more relaxed mobility restriction, reopened the economy, and allowed economic activities to operate at full capacity.
