BP2 passage urged to create jobs for ex-OFWs
AMID reports that many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remain unemployed, Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte on Sunday underscored the urgency for the Congress to pass the proposed Balik Probinsya, Balik Pagasa (BP2) law to create a lot of jobs outside Metro Manila.
Villafuerte, author of House Bill (HB) 6970, said the measure will also help convince displaced OFWs to stay and work in their home provinces or cities instead of getting stuck in their homes waiting for future overseas job opportunities.
He said the measure fast-tracking President Rodrigo Duterte’s BP2 initiative will not only lead to urban decongestion but, more importantly, also stimulate the economy in the regions outside Metro Manila amid the worldwide growth slump touched off by the prolonged coronavirus pandemic.
“Until we achieve herd immunity, business and consumer confidence will remain lethargic because people will still think twice about going out and spending their money for fear of the lethal virus. We need to transition at the soonest to investment-driven growth to reinvigorate the economy. This is why we are calling for the quick passage of the Balik Probinsya bill to encourage businesses to shift their investments and create more jobs in the countryside,” Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte added that boosting consumer spending is crucial to the country’s recovery as household consumption accounts for 70 percent of the Philippine economy.
To immediately boost household income and stimulate consumer spending, he said the independent majority bloc BTS sa Kongreso, which is headed by former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, is urging the House leadership to incorporate in the proposed law on Bayanihan 3 a cash grant of P10,000 per family, to be given right away and in one release.
Villafuerte said the House should work on, among others, making sure that Filipino families get P10,ooo each in one installment under the proposed third Bayanihan law, to let vulnerable families cope with the economic shock of Covid-19 and, in turn, boost household spending nationwide.
“Reviving the economy by passing stimulus measures like the BP2 bill should be the primary focus of the Congress instead of the highly divisive and counterproductive Cha-Cha (Charter change) initiative led by Speaker (Lord Allan) Velasco,” Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte explained that the BP2 will provides for, among others, a menu of tax breaks and other incentives to entice corporations to relocate to, or expand their businesses in, areas outside the Greater Manila area.
He cited reports quoting the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which claimed that 83 percent of repatriated OFWs are still struggling to find new jobs.
Moreover, the IOM said in its study titled “COVID-19 Impact Assessment on Returned Overseas Filipino Workers” that 59% of the workers did not receive separation or compensation pay, while 17% did not get their final salary and 19% reported early contract termination.
In a letter sent to Duterte, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) president Ambassador Benedicto Yujuico and former GMA-7 president-CEO Menardo Jimenez, who chairs PCCI’s Balik Probinsya program, said “we all the more must intensify the Balik Probinsya effort,” as it cited “the timeliness and are fully supportive of a bill filed in Congress by (Congressman) Villafuerte, which will provide the basis for ensuring the sustainability of this program.”
