15% jobs hike in PEZA despite locators’ BoI shift
In the end, we are looking forward to a speedy and flawless transfer of registration of locators from PEZA to BoI
Philippine Economic Zone Authority OIC-deputy director general for Finance and Administration and Concurrent Promotions and Public Relations Group manager, Aleem Siddiqui Guiapal explains their side on the looming transfer of IT-BPM locators from PEZA to the Board of Investments, during his guesting in Daily Tribune’s morning show Gising Na! yesterday. | Daily tribune file photo
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority may have lost its IT -BPO locators which the government has mandated to transfer to the Board of Investments in order for these companies to enjoy a 100 percent work-from-home-arrangement, but PEZA said it is still optimistic that it can reach an increase of 15 percent in providing jobs for the local workforce within the next six year.
In his interview with the Daily Tribune's morning show Gising Na!, PEZA OIC-deputy director general for Finance and Administration and Concurrent Promotions and Public Relations Group manager, Aleem Siddiqui Guiapal said the Authority will continue to support the government's decision to transfer their IT-BPM locators to BoI.
"While this is welcome news for the industry, we in PEZA stand by our position that we must come up with an institutionalized policy on WFH/flexi-work arrangements to ease the burden and provide security for our investors. And as the enactment of the proposed bill will take some time, we are pushing for the approval of our request to extend the WFH policy until March 2023 as a temporary measure," he said.
Also Guiapal said PEZA continues to reiterate its position that their 30 percent WFH (Work for Home) policy is a permissible activity under Republic Act 7916 or the Special Economic Zone Act of 1995, Republic Act 11165 or the Telecommuting Act, and the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act, as the policy is also consistent with the direction of some legislators favoring a greater WFH/flexiwork arrangement for ecozone IT locators so that the can keep their incentives as they operate in IT centers.
The policy is also consistent with the direction of some legislators favoring a greater WFH/flexiwork arrangement for ecozone IT locators so they can keep their incentives.
More proactive and responsive
"We believe that the government can be more proactive and responsive to the needs of ecozone locators if it will extend to them the WFH privileges under a hybrid work set-up. This solution will not only put PEZA on equal footing with the BoI since both agencies offer the same incentives to their registered business enterprises (RBE, whether domestic or export-market oriented) but will also make the Philippines apace with India and other forward-thinking economies that have adopted WFH and hybrid work arrangements as the new normal," Guiapal explained.