DOLE official: There will be job losses with TRAIN 2

A Labor official admitted Tuesday that there will be job losses if the second package of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion bill seeking to lower corporate income tax while cutting out incentives would be passed into law.

During the Senate hearing on the proposed TRAIN 2 or Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High Quality Opportunities (TRABAHO) bill, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian asked if the Labor department, through its independent analysis, there would be job losses due to the bill.

DOLE Bureau of Local Employment Director Dominique Tutay initially hesitated to answer but she later replied in the affirmative.

“Ang tinitignan namin meron po (job losses)… ang tintignan namin mostly ‘yung technology driven industries kapag hindi po sila naka-cope. Ang major sector po that would be in the industry and services sector,” she said.

As to the specific subsector that will be affected, Tutay said she cannot mention it yet until they have completed their study with the Department of Finance.

Gatchalian said DOLE should already have the study to help the Senate craft the bill.

“Anong sector ang tatamaan ng pagkawala ng trabaho? We have to know. This is a very important piece of information, this is branded as TRABAHO bill but ang sinasabi n’yo e merong mawawalan ng trabaho then it’s contradicting the objective sa bill,” he said.

“We want to understand from DOLE’s stand point, your own independent analysis, kung ano ‘yung mga sectors na pwedeng mawalan ng trabaho at ilang kababayan natin ang pwedeng mawalan ng trabaho,” he added.

Tutay said they will have the study in a week or two so Gatchalian asked her to include in the report why there will be job losses and what should be done.

“Please detail it, anong sector, ilang ang mawawalan at ano ang gagawin at bakit mawawalan. We are talking about lives and we want to  approach this very  conservatively,” the senator said.

Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, chairman of the ways and means committee, agreed with Gatchalian and questioned DOLE’s lack of study.

“Sana we’ve computed the worst possible scenario. I think we have to be prepared for the worst really. You haven’t put up a study and the House already passed the bill. Before we pass the bill there should be a comprehensive job study,” he said.

Tutay also revealed during the hearing that based on their job displacement monitoring, about 30,000 jobs in the industry and services sectors were lost in the first quarter of 2018.

Angara said the Senate panel would not proceed with its deliberation of the TRABAHO bill unless the government can present definitive data on the impact on jobs.

“I’m surprised that the Lower House passed this measure even without such study. The government should really take this issue on jobs seriously. Milyon-milyong trabaho at kabuhayan ng milyon-milyong pamilya ang nakasalalay dito. The bill should stay true to its name—that it would create more jobs rather than kill them,” he said. — BAP, GMA News