The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop), and Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (Philexport) have asked the Pag-Ibig Fund to condone penalties for failure of businesses to remit their employees’ savings in the past two years.
In a joint letter addressed to Home Development Mutual Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Moti, they said that more than 35,000 establishments across the country have filed for permanent closure since last year, which displaced 710,417 workers. The groups thus asked HDMF to help local businesses recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In line with this, we are requesting from your good office to extend help in easing the burden of Filipino business owners who were affected by the pandemic by offering a penalty condonation program for businesses who failed to remit their employees’ savings within the past two years,” top officials said in the Sept. 9 letter, which was shared with reporters on Monday.
“On this note, it is also respectfully requested that these business owners applying for penalty condonation be given a longer payment plan to settle all their outstanding obligations with Pag-Ibig Fund,” they added.
The letter was signed by PCCI Acting President Edgardo Lacson, Ecop president Sergio Ortiz-Luis, Jr., and Philexport chair George Barcelon, who also want the state-owned firm to extend the same consideration to penalties due for payment before the pandemic.