Registered business enterprises (RBEs) of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) are neither leaving their host agency nor transferring their registration elsewhere.
PEZA Director General Charito B. Plaza made this clear amid alleged claims that its RBEs, particularly the IT-BPO firms, are leaving the PEZA-administered ecozones/IT buildings/parks/centers, and transferring their registration with the Board of Investments (BOI).
Allegations made earlier pointed to PEZA RBEs leaving their ecozones as they are no longer allowed to continue operating work-from-home (WFH) unlike BOI-registered enterprises, which are allowed WFH setup.
“There is no truth that our registered IT-BPOs and RBEs have left our ecozones. Despite having the same fiscal incentives with the BOI, it is not easy to cancel an operation. We also have a protocol that prohibits an enterprise for a double registration,” said Plaza in a statement Friday, April 8.
This has been seconded by PEZA Deputy Director Tereso Panga who said, “Moving out of our economic zones can be tedious and costly.”
In addition, Panga said, that IT center developers will be “greatly affected with the sudden loss of rental revenues from exiting IT locators.”
Panga assured that “PEZA is working closely with BOI on institutionalizing the WFH in the Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP) to further promote the growth of the IT sector and to ensure regulatory coherence especially on the WFH policy.”
Despite a decision by the Fiscal Incentives Reviewing Board (FIRB) denying PEZA’s petition to allow their RBEs to operate 70-30 ratio hybrid work arrangement in favor of onsite operation, the agency said it is allowing their RBEs to operate 70-30 ratio work arrangement.
PEZA RBEs were allowed to 90 percent WFH and 10 percent onsite during the pandemic or until March 31 this year only, afterwhich they have to return to full operation onsite.
In fact, both Trade and Industry Secretary Lopez, who is also chair of PEZA, and Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, who chairs the FIRB, were of the same opinion that PEZA RBEs must return to full onsite operation by April 1 this year or lose their incentives.
But PEZA insisted that its RBEs are allowed to operate 30 percent WFH and 70 percent onsite without fear of losing their incentives based on two laws.
PEZA invoked the Telecommuting Law, which allowed enterprises to work outside of their physical office. PEZA further invoked that the 30 percent domestic sales allowance for their RBEs, which are export-oriented, can also be applied for 30 percent WFH operation.
Plaza said they continue to accept requests and issuing Letter of Authority (LOA) from their RBEs, allowing them to implement 70-30 hybrid work arrangement.