ANGARA: AS BACKBONE OF PH ECONOMY, MSMEs DESERVE MORE GOV'T SUPPORT

Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara said that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) deserve more support from the government as they continue to play a critical role in the country's economic boom.

According to Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, MSMEs comprise over 99 percent of business enterprises operating across the country with close to five million people or 63 percent of jobs created in 2017, making it one of the key drivers of economic growth.

"Mahalagang suportahan at tulungan kayo ng gobyerno dahil ang MSMEs tulad ninyo ang mayorya ng ating ekonomiya ngayon," Angara said during the "Mentor Me on Wheels" event organized by entrepreneurship advocacy group Go Negosyo held at Lucky Chinatown in Manila on Thursday.

"Ibig sabihin, napakalaki ng inyong naiambag para sa kaunlaran ng bansa. Kaya nararapat lamang na pagtuunan kayo ng pansin at paglaanan ng suporta at tulong ng ating gobyerno," said the senator, who is running under the platform "Alagang Angara."

Angara said he is glad the Duterte administration is moving towards helping small businesses with the enactment of several pro-MSME laws, some of which he had vigorously pushed and supported in the Senate.

Foremost among these laws is Republic Act 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business Act of 2018, which aims to improve the overall business environment in the country by making the process of putting up and running a business easier and more efficient.

"Naisabatas na ang Ease of Doing Business Act na magsisiguro na mabilis at ligtas sa katiwalian ang mga proseso ng gobyerno. Malinaw na sinusuportahan ng administrasyong Duterte kayong mga MSMEs," Angara said.

"Makakaasa na kayong mga negosyante na magiging madali ang kumuha ng permit, magbayad ng buwis at makipagtransaksyon sa gobyerno," he added.

Angara was also responsible for the lowering of the income tax rate to 25 percent from the high of 32 percent and the exemption of workers whose annual earning is P250,000 or below from income tax payment. The income tax rate reduction and tax exemption resulted in some P103 billion in savings on the part of the workers, data from the Department of Finance covering the first three quarters of 2018 showed.

He also pushed for the adjustment of the value-added tax (VAT) threshold to P3 million from P1.9 million in order to protect not only poor and low-income Filipinos but also MSMEs, as it effectively exempts the sale of goods and services of marginal establishments from VAT.

Angara is also one of the authors of the newly enacted law amending the Corporate Code to allow the registration of one-person corporations in a bid to encourage more people to set up businesses and help create more jobs.