Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Alfredo Pascual said it would be "bad for the country" if the work-from-home (WFH) arrangement for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Information Technology and Business Processing Management (IT-BPM) firms doesn't get extended beyond Sept. 12.

Pascual aired this sentiment during the budget deliberation of the DTI before the House Committee on Appropriations Thursday, Sept. 8.

Appropriations panel Vice Chairman and Pangasinan 4th district Rep. Christopher de Venecia, during his interpellation, asked Pascual about the agency’s stand on the policy.

"We have passed a resolution at the PEZA (Philippine Economic Zone Authority) level to extend the 30-70 work-from-home, on-site work to be extended up to the end of the year, 2022,"

"Now, that's not the end of the story; we need to get the Fiscal Incentives Review Board's (FIRB) approval. And I've been told that there's an opposition by one of the members. So we need to work on that," he said.

The FIRB had earlier said in a resolution that registered BPO and IT-BPM firms are allowed to have a 70 percent on-site and 30 percent WFH arrangement until Sept. 12 if they are to continue enjoying fiscal incentives guaranteed by the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act.

"The opposition is coming on the basis of the fact that the emergency situation ends on Sept. 12. So if there is no emergency situation, the legal opinion is that we can't just extend it," Pascual told the committee.

"I think we're banking on the fact that the emergency situation will be extended up to the end of the year. Otherwise it's gonna be bad, you know, for the country," reckoned the DTI head.

By "emergency situation", Pascual appeared to be referring to national state of calamity that will lapse on Sept.12. The declaration, made by the previous Duterte administration, resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic.

"I have supported the extension of the 70-30 scheme that was approved as part of the emergency measures," he underscored.

According to Pascual, another Cabinet member who can potentially help solve the conundrum on WFH is Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma.

"In my discussion with the labor secretary--because he's very much involved in the resolution of this issues--he mentioned that they're looking into the Telecommuting Act as a basis for coming out with an IRR.

"It's a revision of the Telecommuting Act IRR. So that BPOs or IT-PPM companies can be given the flexibility that's afforded by the Telecommuting Act to companies engaged in telecommuting--essentially work-from-home," he said.
De Venecia, referring to the WFH policy, said: "Obviously this disruption is for the better insofar as spurring local economies, also reducing traffic in the metro, in line also with the Balik-Probinsya Program. Really there have been a lot of benefits from this policy."