Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. hailed on Tuesday the passage of the Senate Bill (SB) that seeks, among other things, to increase the tax exemption for the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from P10,000 to P150,000.
The increased tax exemption was incorporated as Section 800 into the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), or SB 2968, which the Senate approved on third and final reading on Monday.
”If the CMTA will be signed into law, Section 800 will give privilege to the OFWs who will bring home or send to the Philippines the things they worked for without tax, provided it will not exceed to P150,000,” Recto said.
Recto added that the privilege can only be enjoyed “up to three times in a calendar year” under the proposed law. ”This means that an OFW can send two boxes at the same time, provided that their total worth is not more than P150,000. That will be counted as one,” Recto said.
For his part, Marcos has expressed hope that the bicameral conference committee will meet soon to speed up the process of the bill’s signing into law.
“Finally we have given back our OFWs a concrete manifestation that we recognize them as modern- day heroes for their sacrifices and significant contributions to our economy, instead of merely paying them lip-service,” Marcos said.