CREATE MORE IRR signed, BPOs will be ‘very happy with 50% work from home’ – Go

Business Process Outsourcing office

The implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy (CREATE MORE) Act has been signed, the country’s economic czar said on Monday.

“We signed the IRR today, or rather I should say the (Department of Finance) and the (Department of Trade and Industry) signed the IRR,” Secretary Frederick Go told reporters.

Go heads the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs (OSAPIEA).

“I’m quite happy with it because I believe that the IRR stayed true and consistent with the intent of the CREATE MORE law,” he added.

WFH for BPOs

Go said that under CREATE MORE, all the investment promotion agencies had been given the flexibility to allow their registered locators to have a 50 percent work-from-home arrangement.

“I think the (business process outsourcing sector) should be very happy with 50 percent work from home. I believe that now, it’s actually less than that already for most BPOs,” he said.

The local BPO sector had previously appealed to the government to include a work-from-home policy under the state’s incentives framework as early as 2022, pushing for this measure to help keep the $30-billion BPO industry competitive.

The IT-BPM Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) eventually welcomed the solution offered by the government to change registration from one investment promotion agency to another.

According to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), more than 440 companies have applied to transfer their registration to the Board of Investments (BOI).

Unlike PEZA, registered companies under the BOI are not required to limit their operation inside government-designated locations or economic zones to be eligible for tax incentives.

Road shows

Go said that they plan to hold road shows to spread information about the updates on the CREATE MORE Act.

“It’s useless to have a law and to have an IRR that nobody knows about. So, our job now is to announce it to the world. To be clear the goal of CREATE MORE is really to generate investments, which is to generate jobs for Filipinos, Go said.

“So, we have scheduled trips to Korea, to the United States, to Japan, to Europe, to the Middle East, and to China,” he said further, adding that they are looking to start with these roadshows by March or April.