Amid reports that many overseas Filipino workers remain jobless, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Ray Villafuerte on Sunday cited the urgency for the Congress to pass the proposed “Balik Probinsya, Balik Pagasa” law to create jobs outside Metro Manila.
Villafuerte is the author of House Bill. 6970, a measure to help convince displaced OFWs to stay and work in their home provinces, instead of getting stuck in their homes waiting for future job opportunities abroad.
The measure fast-tracking President Rodrigo Duterte’s BP2 initiative would not only lead to urban decongestion but, more importantly, also stimulate the economy in the regions outside Metro Manila, he said.
Boosting consumer spending is crucial to the country’s recovery as household consumption accounts for 70 percent of the Philippine econom, the Bicol lawmaker said.
To immediately boost household income and stimulate consumer spending, the independent majority bloc BTS sa Kongreso, headed by former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, called for 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.
He said Congress must ensure that Fildipino families would get P10,000 each in one installment under the proposed third Bayanihan law.”
To revive the economy by passing stimulus measures, such as the BP2 bill, must be the primary focus of the Congress,” Villafuerte said.
He said BP2 would provide a menu of tax breaks and other incentives to encourage corporations to relocate to, or expand their businesses in, areas outside Metro Manila.
He cited reports quoting the International Organization for Migration (IOM) that claimed that 83 percent of repatriated OFWs are still struggling to find new jobs.
The 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.