THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said it has already endorsed to the Board of Investments (BOI) 70 percent of the applications for the paper transfer registration of enterprises seeking to enjoy up to 100 percent work-from-home setup.
The investment promotion agency also noted that the number of applications they received is only 41 percent of the agency’s 1,088 RBEs under the IT and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) sector.
Of the 446 applications it received, PEZA said that as of December 20, 2022, some 70 percent of the applications have been endorsed to the BOI. Currently, PEZA said it is still in the process of endorsing all applications to the BOI.
Last week, PEZA Deputy Director General (DDG) for Operations Vivian S. Santos said PEZA came up with an internal deadline, or December 16, based on PEZA Memorandum Circular (MC) 2022-070.
“The BOI would not extend PEZA’s endorsement. So, in order for PEZA to endorse on or before December 31, we need to also come up with a deadline and the deadline we have provided in our memorandum circular is December 16. That’s the last day of filing,” Santos said.
However, the PEZA official noted that the agency will see to it that applications with complete requirements will be endorsed to the BOI on or before December 31 as the effectivity of the paper transfer that will allow 100 percent work from home will be on January 1, 2023.
According to the PEZA MC 2022-070 dated October 24, “The earlier deadline of December 16 is to ensure that PEZA will have sufficient time to review the applications before we endorse it to BOI.”
Last month, PEZA told the BusinessMirror that the endorsement by PEZA to BOI is considered a “certification” of its no objection and that the endorsed RBEs are compliant with the terms and conditions of registration and are in “good standing.”
Pursuant to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Memorandum Circular No. 22-19, supported by the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB), which was issued last October 18, the RBEs have until December 31 to exercise the option to register with BOI.
At a virtual media briefing held last December 16, Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo said, “So far we’ve worked within the deadline. So we’ll assess based on the numbers provided…[Of course, we’ll work closely with the IT-IBPAP [Business Process Association of the Philippines],” the BOI managing head said, then added that the number might have already been final, and that others may not be interested to transfer. “So we have to work really closely with the industry.”
Rodolfo said the BOI is coordinating with Peza and the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) to carry out the process of the paper-transfer registration. (Related story in the BusinessMirror.December 19: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/12/19/with-peza-green-light-it-bpm-projects-gear-up-for-wfh-rollout/)