Imee Marcos backs calls to reassess Trabaho bill

CEBU, Philippines — Senatorial aspirant Imee R. Marcos vowed to support the strong call of the Cebu business community to review the proposed Trabaho Bill, which is seen as disadvantageous to the Cebu economy.

Marcos was in Cebu yesterday to present her proposed economic development roadmap for the Visayas, in case she will be given a seat in the Senate.

The Ilocos Governor echoed the business sector’s fears that the second part of tax reform, which is now called “Trabaho Bill, is detrimental to the Philippine economic make up, specifically to Cebu where BPO (business process outsourcing), manufacturing and foreign direct investment are thriving.

Affirming the stand of the Cebu private sector, Marcos said pursuing the full-blown implementation of the Trabaho Bill endangers Cebu economy. She believes that responsible review should be done saying “we might be embarking on a slippery slope,” if the bill will be put into law.

“TRAIN-2 is threatening. We have to be careful though. There are a lot of unforeseen repercussions,” added Marcos.

While she is not advocating to totally scrap the bill, she said some serious reviews should be done first, and she promised to fight this cause if she will have the chance.

The business community in Cebu has been calling the government to do an intensive review on Trabaho Bill, otherwise the Philippines will lose in the battle of competitiveness.

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) past president Antonio Chiu said second package of tax reform otherwise known as Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities, (TRABAHO bill), has certain provisions that could hurt the country’s economy.

The second package of tax reforms meant to "modernize" fiscal incentives and reduce the corporate income tax rate.

The bill, dubbed as Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities, or TRABAHO bill contains several features geared towards employment generation.

It is a substitute to TRAIN 2 of the second package of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion.

According to Chiu, amid the rosy projections of the Philippine economy onwards, the country is also challenged with its weakening strength in attracting manufacturing investments, which is one of largest employment generating industries.

American consulting and research firm Everest Group, urged the Philippines to maintain investor-friendly environment, if it were to continue attracting investors.

Everest Group top executive H. Karthik said with the high potential of outsourcing industry to post growth, its not a wise idea to lessen or scrap any incentive being offered by the Philippines specifically to IT/BPO companies which are located in the economic zone areas.

“There is yet no country I know has stopped giving incentives or reduced them especially that these incentives will be beneficial in the long run,” Karthik said in his recent visit to Cebu.

Likewise, Marcos is also alarmed of the bill’s provision, which is to rationalize the incentives to industries such BPOs, FDIs, and those manufacturing firms located inside PEZA, saying if this comes into action (modernizing the incentive) “we will see exodus of investors going out from our country leaving thousands of Filipinos jobless.”