SEN. Joel Villanueva is pushing for the early delivery of a promised “economic lifeline” for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) reeling from the backlash of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
Citing MSMEs as a major employment generator, the senator will cite the prompt implementation of economic assistance that the Duterte administration committed to provide to MSMEs when Villanueva renders a report to Congress on the Bayanihan law as soon as lawmakers reconvene regular sessions on May 4.
The senator affirmed in a statement Sunday the need for early delivery of relief, listing MSMEs among the “badly-suffering sectors facing the brunt of the crisis brought about by Covid-19.”
Villanueva voiced concerns over the labor sector’s ability to maintain jobs during this pandemic, asserting that “just as we immediately implemented emergency employment programs for our affected workers both in the formal and informal economy, we should likewise act with dispatch to provide relief to MSMEs.”
He pressed for prompt action, saying that “we must throw them a lifeline immediately, so they in turn can sustain their workers too.”
“The assistance that we will provide to them should be conditional on them keeping their workers now and until the economy recovers,” said the senator, who chairs the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resource Development.
“We face a big challenge for the MSMEs. The livelihood of millions of workers is at stake if the government’s aid for MSMEs does not come on time,” he added, in a mix of English and filipino.
MSMEs employed some 5.7 million workers in 2018, according to data from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), or about 13 percent of the total number of employed workers.
Industries severely affected by the community quarantine enforced in Luzon and other local governments are in the wholesale and retail trade, and food and accommodation sectors, which comprise at least 50 percent of the employment generated by MSMEs, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed.
The Bayanihan Law of 2020, which Congress passed two weeks ago, mandated the DTI to provide relief for “productive sectors of the economy.” The agency is preparing for the implementation of its Pondo Sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3) Enterprise Rehabilitation Financing worth P1 billion, which is expected to roll out once the quarantine restrictions are lifted.
The DTI issued a moratorium on payment of loans of about 127,000 micro enterprises under the P3 program, as well as 15,000 MSME who have existing loans under the government-owned Small Business Corp.
Other government lending institutions have existing loan programs such as the Development Bank of the Philippines’s Small Business Puhunan Loan Program and Rehabilitation Support Program. Land Bank of the Philippines offers loans under its Calamity Rehabilitation Support Program.
MSMEs can also seek assistance from the Department of Science and Technology through its Small and Medium Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program.