NextGen Day

MANILA, Philippines – At least four to six business process outsourcing (BPO) companies are willing to forego government fiscal incentives in order to adopt the work-from-home (WFH) arrangement, according to a newly organized group of BPO workers.

In a press conference Thursday, Alliance of Call Center Workers (ACW) co-convenor Lara Melencio stated that at least four companies have chosen to forego tax benefits rather than force their employees back to work.

Melencio stated that BPO employees can expect to retain their current salaries and benefits even if their employers continue to benefit from government tax breaks as a result of the WFH arrangement.

ACW has formed two weeks ago via a Facebook group and now has approximately 1,400 member workers from various BPO firms.

Emman David, co-convenor of the ACW, explained that the group was formed to lobby the government to approve the industry’s request to extend the WFH arrangement beyond this month.

The government has directed businesses, particularly BPO firms, to resume operations in economic zones and information technology (IT) parks where they registered their businesses by April 1 in order to continue receiving government fiscal incentives.

Businesses that register with investment promotion agencies can take advantage of incentives such as an income tax holiday or a 5% special corporate income tax in lieu of value-added tax, income tax, and local business tax.

According to David, 156 members of the group have indicated that they will resign from their jobs if the WFH setup is no longer permitted, 117 are undecided, and 37 members have indicated that they will remain in their jobs even if they are required to return to their offices.

He added that some BPO employees living in the provinces are hesitant to return to their offices because they must rent housing in Metro Manila on at least three-month contracts.

They fear that if the government implements stricter alert levels, they will be forced to return to WFH arrangements, despite the fact that they have already paid for their rentals in advance, David added.

He stated that BPO employees are more likely to support small-scale businesses under a WFH arrangement because they are now purchasing products and services from local micro and small businesses.

“When we visit ecozones or BGC (Bonifacio Global City), we shop at these large businesses. Thus, how are we failing to support MSMEs (micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises) that operate from home?” He stated in a mixed language of Filipino and English.

Luke Espiritu, president of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino and a senatorial aspirant, has expressed his support for the BPO workers’ union.

“They are not requesting a permanent work-from-home arrangement; they are requesting an extension of the existing arrangement; is this too much to ask? That is also what the businesses requested,” Espiritu stated during the same virtual event.

Espiritu urged the administration to “leave a legacy that is compassionate and understanding of the workers’ situation and plight” when its term expires in the middle of 2022.

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