House bill seeks incentives for OFW-owned businesses

PHILSTAR
A LEGISLATOR has filed a bill seeking incentives for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) setting up businesses in the Philippines.
Makati City 2nd district Rep. Luis N. Campos Jr. filed House Bill 1440 which if passed will become the Overseas Filipino Workers Business Incentive Act of 2019.
It seeks to encourage OFWs “to invest in the establishment of enterprises towards the creation of decent work, production, and trade within the country.”
The measure will include a package of measures offering fiscal incentives, access to capital, training, marketing assistance and information, ease of doing business, and provide the institutional support necessary for overseas Filipino investors to contribute to the economy and to nation building.”
The incentives include a two-year exemption from all national and local taxes.
“The exemption shall be extended to six years if the OFW business is a pioneering business in the Philippines or if it will introduce and utilize state-of-the-art technology in its operations,” the bill read.
It also exempts from tariffs and duties any imported equipment worth less than P5 million used exclusively for the business. The exemption applies to initial exclusive use in their operations shall be exempt from customs tariff and duties for the first two years of the existence of the business.
This exemption for initial equipment imports will be withdrawn after two years, and the equipment may not be resold for five years.
HB 1440 also requires that the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) set aside funding for a credit facility for start-up OFW businesses, with the credit facility to be managed by the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).
Local government units will also be required to organize “express lanes” at their Business Permit and Licensing Offices for OFW businesses.
The measure assigns the OFW Business Council — composed of secretaries from the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Trade and Industry, National Economic Development Authority, Department of Finance, Department of Interior and Local Government, and OFW representatives to draft the rules for accrediting OFW investors.
Mr. Campos said remittances can be tapped for entrepreneurial activity.
“There is an urgent need to start harnessing the remittances and savings into more productive endeavors, primarily through entrepreneurial or business activities. Business activities will augment the income of the OFW households and will generate much-needed local employment,” Mr. Campos said in his explanatory note. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras

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