Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, chair of the House ways and means committee, has proposed a P53-billion subsidy fund for 5.98 million workers, small and medium enterprises, sole entrepreneurs and freelancers who belong to the middle class category and affected by the extended enhanced community quarantine.
Salceda, in a letter to President Rodrigo Duterte, proposed the Payroll Support for Workers, Entrepreneurs and Self-employed or PSWES Program, to extend support to the middle class who face or will likely face financial difficulties in the weeks after the ECQ.
The subsidy will be distributed for three months. He said there is a sound basis for a middle-class cash transfer scheme, as a key goal of the Duterte administration’s key economic policies is the development of a resilient middle-class which drives economic dynamism and productivity.
“Development gains in this area may waver unless social protection mechanisms are in place to prevent those who have breached poverty and have joined the middle class from falling back under the poverty line. As the middle class mostly falls within the 7th to 9th income deciles, it is likely their households are either mostly or entirely outside the coverage of the government’s Social Amelioration Program or SAP,” he said.
Salceda said he recommended to the president that “we begin calibrating a wage subsidy program for small and medium enterprises, as well as for those in the gig economy".
"We will need these enterprises to operate, so it’s essential for the economy and for job preservation, that we lend them a helping hand. A payroll support program will likely be necessary to support micro-, small, and medium enterprises that will face liquidity issues in the wake of the ECQ, as well as their workers, who may be terminated if these MSMEs are unable to pay their wages and maintain operations,” said Salceda in his letter.
“Apart from supporting business, the program will also be able to provide relief to formal economy workers, entrepreneurs, and the self-employed who typically belong to the middle class. Income support will also likely be necessary for freelancers and those in the gig economy who were unable to earn income due to the ECQ,” he said.
Salceda said that based on the Bureau of Internal Revenue data on small taxpayers, the country’s “MSMEs employ around 4.1 million formal economy workers while some 380,000 entrepreneurs are classified as sole proprietors. On the other hand, the 2018 Global Freelancer Insights Report says that about 1.5 million Filipinos are freelancers. Together, members of these sectors have a combined workforce of 5.98 million workers.”
“The average monthly minimum wage is placed at around P9,500 per month. We propose a wage subsidy that covers around a quarter to a third of this amount. The cost of supporting their income, at P3000 per month for three months, is P53.82 billion pesos,” he said.
"I recommend that we distribute most of the aid via the Social Security System, assisted by the BIR and the Department of Labor and Employment for the formal economy workers. For freelancers, I propose an open-application window similar to the Covid Adjustment Measures Program or CAMP of DOLE,” said Salceda.
“I also propose that we couple the open-application process for freelancers with cost-free BIR and SSS registration. That way, they are able to see the full benefits of being accredited with the state, while also being able to contribute in future years when they are in better conditions, It’s like we help you now and when you get less strained, you help others too. We need to expand the tax base when this situation normalizes. This will be a big part of that effort,” he said.
“As you know, I wrote HB 1527, which would essentially be a Magna Carta for the freelancers. There’s a lot of potential there if we can regularize that industry. Showing them the benefits of being part of the formal economy would be the ultimate invitation,” Salceda said.
“We reckon this amount, in aggregate, to be around P35 billion, which we believe is a reasonable investment in the middle class, and which will certainly support immediately the economy’s aggregate demand,” he said, adding that middle class assistance does not have to come in the form of an outright subsidy similar to the SAP. It may come in the form of a wage subsidy to ensure that they are employed, and their employers remain in viable amid the pandemic.
A noted economist, Salceda also co-chairs the House stimulus cluster, the panel tasked with drafting a proposed economic stimulus plan for the country’s transitioning out of, and recovering from Covid-19.
Prior to the implementation of the Social Amelioration Program, the lawmaker also submitted a report to President Duterte that outlined modalities for an emergency subsidy for the poor and vulnerable sectors.
Salceda led the initial calls for a lockdown in Metro Manila immediately following reports of community transmission in San Juan. He has also filed a bill creating a Center for Disease Control and providing special powers to the executive to address a health emergency as early as January (HB 6096).
A recognized leading advocate for disaster preparedness, he was elected co-chair of the United Nations Green Climate Fund where he represented Asia and other developing countries.
