When business leader– Sergio Ortiz- Luis Jr.-- president of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines– warned against requiring business to hire persons with disabilities through another law on top of the existing labor laws as one reason to drive away investors from our country, this smacked of greed and callousness of businessmen, who are being steeled by profits and the bottomline.
Since when has business considered humanity a great deterrent to investors, while ironically most developed economies have shown more empathy towards those in the margins of society and those unable to help themselves because of their physical handicaps.
Ortiz-Luis told Business Mirror that providing jobs to PWDs may come in different ways such as granting incentives to companies which opt to hire them. In short, incentivize those currently hiring PWDs instead of businesses sharing with their profits to the less fortunate, and imposing its civic duties to the government.
He stressed this responsibility should not be made obligatory to businesses as “doing so could mean adding another law to the many existing laws which could drive investors away.”
“If you really want to help PWDs, [use] some other ways. Or, you could offer the companies incentives, so that investors don’t mind. It would be okay if this [policy] can create jobs, but it won’t. It will just get jobs from the more efficient ones,” Ortiz-Luis emphasized.
“But don’t make it compulsory because it doesn’t add anything to the business environment. It can create problems because the investors are picky. They’ll think of going to Thailand, or wherever, where there’s no such imposition…not too many laws, too many holidays, too many labor laws and the you have a legislated wage.
” This explains, he said, why, “kulelat tayo [we’re bottom dwellers].’ As for me, kulelat tayo because businesses eat up so much profits and dividends instead of allotting funds for underprivileged and those without the means to uplift their lot. Greed is why we are kulelat.
He claimed that a lot of investors have already shifted to our neighbors like Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam amid the other issues hounding the local business atmosphere.
“Investors are going to Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam. With all our efforts, we still have problems. There are problems with graft and corruption, red tape, and then you add more problems.” On this, I agree with him, but it takes both government and business to further a corrupt environment.
His comments came after House Rep. Erwin Tulfo expressed frustration at his stance during a recent hearing on House Bill 8941.
Tulfo said ECOP claims that hiring PWDs entails “additional costs” for businesses due to the need for specialized training, facilities and equipment.
House Bill 8941, authored by Reps. Tulfo, Edvic Yap, Jocelyn Tulfo, Eric Yap, Ralph Tulfo and Wilbert Lee, proposes that companies with 1,000 employees allocate 2 percent of their workforce to PWDs while those with less than 100 workers should hire at least 1 percent PWDs.
Naturally such a view incensed Tulfo et al slammed the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) for saying that they do not agree with the proposed law that would oblige private companies to hire Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).
Tulfo said the additional costs for training, facilities and equipment to be incurred in hiring a PWD should not be an excuse as companies can hire PWDs with skills for front desk or IT. That would be your fault if you hired a PWD who does not know his job because of his disability)," Tulfo added.
He was more piqued in learning from Agusan del Sur Rep. Alfelito Bascug, chair of the panel, that the Civil Service Commission failed to attend the hearing despite being invited.
"Looks like the CSC has no respect for this panel,. Why don't we subpoena them instead?" Tulfo said to which Bascug agreed with the other members of the panel to subpoena CSC officials to attend the next hearing.
My take
Have our leaders become stone-hard towards the marginalized and those in the margins? Have we lost our consciences and our hearts for the poor?
Has material success been the primordial concern of business in our country? No wonder we are losing all our moral grounds.
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