Solon proposes 30-day national payment holiday amid enhanced community quarantine

Quezon City Representative Precious Castelo is proposing a one-month waiver of all payments in government institutions and private establishments amid the enhanced community quarantine implemented to combat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

“Since President Duterte has placed the country under a state of calamity for six months, I am proposing a national payment holiday for 30 days to help our people through the enhanced community quarantine. Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Castelo said in a statement on Thursday.

According to Castelo, all payments, including loan amortizations and premium contributions, to government agencies like the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, Pag-ibig Fund, and PhilHealth should be scrapped during the enhanced quarantine period.

“Those state institutions can afford to forego such remittances because they have hundreds of billions in funds,” she said.

Rents should also be waived for apartments and other dwelling units, as well as for commercial spaces in private establishments like shopping malls, Castelo said.

Moreover, public utilities such as Meralco, Maynilad, Manila Water, Globe, PLDT-Smart, and Internet service providers, as well as operators of toll roads like the North Luzon Expressway, South Luzon Expressway and the NAIA road network should no longer ask for payments for one month, she said.

Castelo said postponing payments until after the enhanced community quarantine is not enough, as people who are forced to stay at home would have to spend whatever money they had to get through the emergency.

"They would have little or no money at all to pay for their postponed obligations after the quarantine is lifted. A 30-day national payment holiday is therefore needed,” she said.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue has already said that it would be extending the deadline of filing of income tax returns to May 15.

Other private companies and banks, meanwhile, have already given leeway for consumers to pay their dues beyond the deadline amid the enhanced community quarantine. -NB, GMA News