The Fiscal Incentives Review Board chaired by Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno approved 25 projects worth a total investment capital of P287.9 billion since the beginning of the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Diokno said in a statement over the weekend these projects “are expected to generate around 24,617 jobs in telecommunications, data centers, manufacturing, infrastructure, tourism, hospitals, mass housing, energy, and ITBPM [information technology and business process management].”
He said some of the biggest activities are the nationwide energy projects by Enovate Motors Corp. (P16.0 billion) and Century Summit Carrier (P15.8 billion), data center projects by Evolution Data Centres Philippines (P9.7 billion) and Digital Edge Philippines (P5.4 billion), and telecommunications infrastructure in multiple locations by Unity Digital Infrastructure (P147 billion) and LBS Digital Infrastructure Corp. (P36 billion).
FIRB is the interagency government body given the authority by the Philippine law to grant tax incentives to registered business enterprises.
It earlier extended the deadline for the transfer of registered information technology and business process management firms to the Board of Investments until Jan. 31, 2023 from Dec. 31, 2022.
The inter-agency board cited in FIRB Resolution No. 033-22 the need to extend the initial Dec. 31, 2022 deadline as only about 40 percent of the affected IT-BPM firms have successfully submitted the requirements on time. Around 640 RBEs have yet to submit their requirements for the transfer.
Diokno reaffirmed the FIRB’s continued support for IT-BPM enterprises by recognizing the need to adopt flexible work arrangements without adverse effects on the tax incentives they receive.