Tax breaks for companies hiring persons with disabilities

Tax incentives await companies that hire more persons with disabilities.   The government has urged private employers to hire more Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in return for tax privileges and other incentives. The national employment service should also segregate PWD applications to help them land jobs, the Department of Labor and Employment said Wednesday.   In the kick-off rites of the 34th Annual National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation (NDPR) Week celebration, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz highlighted the benefits private companies can gain by employing PWD’s, among them an additional deduction of 25 percent from their gross income of the total amount paid as salaries and wages to disabled persons.   Baldoz also instructed the Bureau of Local Employment to make the PhilJobnet facility easily accessible to PWDs by lodging their skills and qualification profiles in the "skills for hire" category.   DOLE communications director Nicon Fameronag told GMA News Online in a phone interview that tweaking the system to tag all PWD applications with their skill sets will allow prospective employers to easily see their applications. “Mas litaw sila sa “skills for hire” category,” he said.   Baldoz said it should be the same with the skills training of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.   “There is a great challenge today to ensure that PWDs genuinely feel what the government is doing for them in terms of guaranteeing their fundamental freedoms, social protection, employment, and not being  discriminated against,” Baldoz said.   Fameronag reiterated that DOLE sees PWDs as regular members of the labor force. As such DOLE sees it as their responsibility to facilitate their employment. “We have to open to them all opportunities as human beings with human rights,” he said. A part of inclusive growth   Baldoz emphasized that the Philippines is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She said the weeklong celebrations are also an avenue for the Labor sector to make headway towards the Millennium Development Goals.   "Hindi ito nalalayo sa hangarin ng kasalukuyang administrasyong Aquino III na inclusive growth. Sa paglago ng bansa, walang dapat maiiwan. Dalawang bagay ito: ang paglago ng bansa na nanggagaling sa paglago ng kabuuang pagkatao ng bawat mamamayan at sa paglagong ito, ang bawat mamamayan ay makikinabang," she added.   Baldoz also urged government agencies to monitor and report the number of PWDs under their employ in the interest of transparency, saying that the DOLE itself has over 30 employees who are PWDs.   Transparency goes for the private sector as well. The Magna Carta for Disabled grants tax breaks provided companies “present proof as certified by the Department of Labor and Employment that disabled person(s) are under their employ and that  the disabled employee is accredited with the Department of Labor and Employment and the Department of Health as to his disability, skills and qualifications,” according to the Labor Department.   R.A. 7277 or the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons was amended in 2006 by R.A. 9442. It recognizes the greater need to guarantee the basic rights, freedoms, and privileges of PWDs, to improve and enhance their social standing and dignity, the labor chief said.   She said there are still PWDs not being given the opportunity to fully develop and utilize their abilities, thus hindering realization of their full potential and effective social and economic participation on an equal basis with others.   One of the goals of our week-long celebration is to raise the people's awareness on issues and problems faced by PWDs and to enlist public support for concrete efforts to better PWDs' economic and social conditions, she said.   To recognize those who have helped make the plight of PWDs more visible, Fameronag said the department gave out certificates of appreciation to 32 companies that actively and consistently employ PWDs. — VS, GMA News