Duterte asks gov’t agencies to assist displaced OFWs; appeals to lessors not to shoo away MSME tenants

July 28, 2020

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered various government agencies to assist the displaced overseas Filipino workers and the micro, small and medium enterprises affected by the coronavirus disease pandemic.

Specifically, Duterte asked the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority to come up with a special training program "to retool our OFWs so they can find employment opportunities here at home."

"I am also calling on the CHED (Commission on Higher Education) for scholarship programs for the qualified dependents of our OFWs," he said during his fifth State of the Nation Address on Monday.

Over 100,000 OFWs have been repatriated after they were displaced due to pandemic.

The President also directed the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade and Industry to come up with agri-business and entrepreneurship projects to help displaced OFWs rebuild their livelihood.

He also asked the state-run Land Bank of the Philippines and other government financial institutions to continue providing low-interest loans to the OFWs.

Duterte, in the same SONA, appealed to the lessors to be "compassionate" with their MSME tenants.

"This is not the time to drive away lessees. During normal time they were the primary source of your income stream. Now, it's time to be fair and compassionate. Come up with amenable arrangement with your tenants. Let us not shoo them away, cut water and electricity supplies and remove their roofs," he said.

"Commercial establishments are requested to give grace periods (or) allow deferment of payments, especially for MSMEs that were forced to close down during the quarantine period. Let us help them recover," Duterte added.

He also urged the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and banks operating in the country to provide regulatory relief for the MSMEs and allow loan payment extensions without incurring penalties and charges.

"We need your help to prevent the collapse of companies saddled with accumulated amortizations and payables caused by the closure of their businesses at the height of the strict quarantine periods," he said.

For the tourism industry, which is also greatly affected by the pandemic, the President also enjoined the Filipinos to help boost the economy by traveling locally once the necessary systems are in place.

He also assured that the government would go after online scammers as many people do their transactions now via online.

"We must patrol the country’s cyberspace and enforce online consumer and data protection and privacy laws. We must run after online scammers and those undermining the people’s trust in online transactions. We must continue to protect Filipinos in the new normal and remind the world that we are responsible stewards of data. I am committed to protect both the physical and digital lives of our law-abiding countrymen," he said.

He also asked the government agencies to make physical queuing a thing of the past. Celerina Monte/DMS