The IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines is pushing for the extension of the hybrid work policy until March next year despite the pronouncement from the Fiscal Incentives Review Board that the plan lacks legal basis.
IBPAP president Jack Madrid said in a statement the group stood by decision of the the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to enable hybrid work for registered business enterprises.
“This long-standing policy is irrefutable legal basis for the continuance of the 30-percent work-from-home arrangement for IT-BPM companies and the provisions of the PEZA Law, which grants the agency authority to oversee the operations of its RBEs,” he said.
The IBPAP’s push to have WFH/hybrid work arrangements goes beyond business continuity plans related to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
Madrid said the move was more of trying to adapt to global work trends for business flexibility that investors look for and strengthen the country’s competitiveness in retaining existing and attracting new IT-BPM investors.
Madrid said the group explained the scheme to partners in government, including leaders of key executive departments and some senators.
The rising clamor and preference for WFH or hybrid work by employees gained public support and should be a compelling reason for the government, he said.
The IBPAP said the FIRB’s dismissal of the collective support of the parties advocating continued WFH/hybrid work beyond BCP and the pandemic, “is short-sighted and inconsistent with the objective of attracting and retaining investors in the country’s biggest job-generating industry and contributor of foreign exchange revenue.”
“The long-standing impasse with the FIRB and its very public exchanges with PEZA on the matter of WFH/hybrid work is not only detrimental to our narrative of industry agility, innovation and resilience, but also to our positioning of the Philippines as the IT-BPM investment destination of choice,” Madrid said.
The group said the tussle with the FIRB detracted IT-BPM from creating more employment and generating more foreign exchange revenue for the country.
It said the recurring problem also negatively impacted the ease of doing business in the country and the confidence level of IT-BPM principals and potential clients.
The group expressed hope that FIRB would resolve the issue internally and avoid giving the impression to investors of an unstable policy environment.
“The least FIRB could do is to explore all possible means by which it can support the continued growth of the industry with all its contribution to the retention and creation of jobs, the generation of significant forex revenue in the two years of the pandemic, including how the industry fuels the recovery and growth of other major industries,” Madrid said.
