P16.4-B subsidies released to 2.1M small business workers

MANILA – The first tranche of a two-month wage subsidy package has been credited to the accounts of more than 2.1 million qualified beneficiary-workers of the Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) program, jointly implemented by the Department of Finance (DOF), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and the Social Security System (SSS).

The SBWS was designed to support qualified workers who were not able to receive their salaries for at least two weeks due to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and other containment measures imposed by the national and local governments since middle of March to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

A total of about PHP16.4 billion worth of subsidies were credited to the accounts of SBWS beneficiaries as of May 12, equivalent to PHP5,000 to PHP8,000 per qualified worker, depending on the minimum wage level in his or her region.

SBWS subsidies are either credited to the beneficiaries’ bank or PayMaya accounts or sent through cash remittance via MLhuillier financial services.

This SBWS initiative is one of the intervention programs that the Duterte administration has rolled out in support of low-income families, workers of small businesses, and other vulnerable sectors that are hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic’s economic fallout.

The SBWS interagency task force is chaired by the DOF, represented by Assistant Secretary Antonio Joselito Lambino II, and with SSS PresidentCEO Aurora Ignacio and BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa as members.

Lambino said MLhuillier Kwarta Padala, through the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), is the partner-remittance center of the SSS in the disbursement of wage subsidies to unbanked beneficiaries.