SENATE PASSAGE OF

A LABOR group on Thursday said it would push for the passage of the landmark comprehensive legislation granting Barangay Health Workers (BHW) better working conditions.

In a news statement, UNI Global Union-Philippine Liaison Council (UNIPLC) President Roland de la Cruz said House

Bill 6557 or the Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers would provide BHWs muchneeded protection from abuse as well as occupational hazards.

The bill provides hazard, transportation, and subsistence allowances to BHW.

MAGNA

It also provides them health benefits, insurance coverage, vacation and maternity leave benefits, cash gifts, disability pay and will confer a first grade Civil Service Eligibility for Barangay Health Workers who have rendered at least five years of continued service.

HB 6557 also mandates the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the local government units to establish a grievance mechanism to address complaints regarding acts of discrimination and unjust removal of BHWs from the service.

The WB report stated that the recovery in the region has been uneven across sectors, even as information and communication technology, finance and agriculture have

However, the WB said, the catch-up to the per capita income levels of advanced economies has stalled in recent years as productivity growth and the pace of structural reforms have slowed.

Senate bill exempts local films, musical productions from amusement tax charge

By Butch Fernandez

FORMER actor-turned-lawmaker

Senator Robinhood Padilla is moving to exempt local films and musical productions from paying amusement taxes to boost the film and music industries to bounce back from the crippling economic effects of the recent pandemic.

In filing Senate Bill 2048, Padilla is aiming to enlist the majority support of lawmakers from the Senate and the House to frontload passage of the enabling legislation “to help the film and music industries recover.”

As filed, the Padilla bill seeks to exempt Filipino-owned local productions from paying amusement tax, and to grant tax holidays to the two industries.

A veteran of the movie industry before turning lawmaker, Padilla’s SB 2048, to be known as The Film and Live Events Recovery Act, noted that amusement tax laws impede the growth of the entertainment industry and drive up the cost of amusement services.

“Hence, it is imperative to give our film and music industries the necessary boost to thrive and recover from the pandemic and new challenges that cost them major losses, while ensuring that the gains redound to local productions, thereby benefiting our people and economy,” the Senate bill read.

The Padilla bill proposes to exempt from amusement tax all locally produced creative materials which copyright is owned by Filipinos and from local productions with at least 10 percent equity owned by Filipinos.

It also grants the film and music industries a tax holiday of two years. In addition, the bill likewise lowers the cap for amusement tax collection under the Local Government Code to 5 percent from the current 10 percent.

In filing the bill, the lawmaker lamented the taxation on filmmakers and producers as “restrictive and burdensome to the detriment of our labor productivity, cultural exhibition and local development.”

At the same time, Padilla noted that locally produced films in 2022 hit P10 million in gross sales, adding the existing taxes require the films to gross 270 percent of production costs to just break even.

Moreover, the bill exempts from paying amusement taxes locally produced film productions, musical plays, operas, concerts, dramas, recitals, painting and art exhibitions, flower shows, musical programs, and literary and oratorical presentations, provided that the copyright of such locally produced work is owned by Filipino/s and that at least 10 percent of the equity of such local productions is owned by Filipinos as certified by the Department of Trade and Industry or the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In addition, proceeds from the amusement tax shall be allocated for programs, activities and projects in the sectors and industries involving the locally produced work, while the remaining proceeds shall be shared equally by the province and municipality where the amusement places are located.

The bill further provides that “within two years from the effectivity of the measure, the power of local governments to levy an amusement tax is suspended with an extendible period of at least two years subject to the approval of the Department of Finance.”