Senators on Sunday threw their support to the proposed P24-billion wage subsidy program for private sector workers targeted to help small and medium business struggling with the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“I support the proposed wage subsidy for private sector workers. The subsidy will enable small and medium enterprises to retain their employees and prevent further job losses,” Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said in a statement.

“I urge the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) to immediately recommend to the President the realignment of these huge allocations in the budget. there is no harm if we postpone some of these items and use the unutilized and unobligated balances to feed millions of Filipinos who are struggling to put food on the table and keep the jobs of thousands, if not million, Filipinos,” Drilon said.

Sen. Joel Villanueva said he supports the proposed wage subsidy as he highlighted the need for the government to diversify its cash assistance program.

“The conventional track is to aid workers who have lost their jobs. This one helps workers from losing theirs. We have to invest more in payroll retention and job protection programs that help both employers and workers,” Villanueva said, also in a statement.

Villanueva pointed out Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data shows that the country’s MSMEs are 99.5 percent of all registered business enterprises in the country, and are responsible for the 62.4 percent of the country’s total employment.

“When we aid a struggling MSME, our subsidy cascades down to the workers who will be able to keep their paycheck because we have helped avert a shutdown,” said the head of the Senate committee on labor and employment.

“In such kind of a rescue, the government wins too because it will continue receiving taxes paid by labor and capital,” he added.

Villanueva further pointed out pursuing the program would help the government finance its operations through the taxes generated from the economic activity of MSMEs.

“Our government should not come in only after an employee has become unemployed. It should proactively intervene so that companies employing workers would remain open and their jobs secure,” he said.

“We'll look into this proposal, which is a part of our National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS), so that we in the Senate could also do our part and study potential funding sources for this important program to help MSMEs retain jobs,” the lawmaker added.

Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said the Senate has consistently called for bigger economic stimulus spending to assist the private sector.

“We support this measure and how we wish it came earlier,” Pangilinan said.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez unveiled the proposal during the job summit of the Task Group on Economic Recovery of the NERS on Saturday, May 1.

According to Lopez, the wage subsidy program seeks to grant workers in MSMEs an P8,000 wage subsidy per month for a maximum of three months.