The national government is all set to provide a wage subsidy for employees of small businesses hard hit by the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ).
President Rodrigo Duterte approved the subsidy program last April 18.
The subsidy is expected to enable usually cash-strapped small enterprises to retain their employees during the quarantine period when their operations slowed down or ground to a halt..
Under the wage subsidy program, employees shall receive, through the Social Security System (SSS), wages amounting from 5,000 to 8,000 a month per eligible employee
Applications will be completed by the employer on behalf of their workers.
To qualify for the subsidy, the business must , first of all, be small-scale. Whether a corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship, it must not be in the Large Taxpayer Service List (LTS) of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Second, the business must be severely affected by the ECQ as manifested by an enforced close down of operations or work suspension. . Additionally, it must be compliant with SSS and BIR regulations.
Also eligible are employees of small businesses located in places where other forms of quarantine have been put in place by the local government.
The SSS is ready to receive applications from small business owners starting April 16 until April 30, 2020.