Tax-free, duty-free imports of COVID vaccines pushed

MANILA, Philippines — A key House official is pushing for the tax-free and duty-free importation of COVID-19 vaccines, saying such “friction costs and administrative burdens” could delay vaccine procurement and distribution.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, chair of the House ways and means committee, said the benefits of removing the tariff and tax barriers to importing COVID-19 vaccines was “critical to fast-tracking mass vaccination by several days.”

“On the question of whether the private sector should be able to import the COVID-19 vaccines without taxes and duties, my answer is an unambiguous yes … The cost-benefit analysis appears to me to be very clearly on the side of frictionless importation,” he said on Friday.

Lawmakers, however, need to pass a law that would encourage the private sector to provide vaccination to their own employees, according to a top official of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

On Wednesday, Anthony Almeda, president and chief executive officer of NGCP, called on Congress to allow private companies to import vaccine doses tax-free for the use of its employees.

“This will enable businesses to give the economy a much-needed boost in activity and would encourage the private sector to provide vaccination to its employees,” Almeda said.

‘Focally critical’

“Vaccination, as well as mass testing, is focally critical in the fight against COVID-19. We need to prevent, detect, isolate and treat,” he added. “We need to jump-start the economy now, but we need to ensure that we stack the odds against infections in the workplace.”

“With a vaccination program in place for the private sector, more businesses and industries will be able to regain some semblance of normal activity, bounce back and put the economy on its way to recovery after almost a year of slow down,” Almeda said.

Salceda said the private sector could complement the government’s vaccination efforts since private companies were not bound by procurement laws and were not obliged to go through “circuitous diplomatic channels.”

NGCP to vaccinate workers

“I suspect that some of the largest private sector groups in the country will be faster than the government at least some of the time,” he said.

He noted that the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act provides for a value-added tax exemption for COVID-19 vaccines and drugs.

“Of course, that has to be subject to some limits of time but, generally, government should not try to collect on drugs and vaccines for this health emergency,” Salceda said.

The NGCP, which has a 5,000-strong workforce, is also assessing the possibility of providing its employees — including essential employees composed of grid dispatchers and transmission line employees—with the necessary doses as soon as the vaccine becomes available.

“We encourage our counterparts in both the public and private sectors, to be similarly proactive in protecting their employees, so that we can keep the economy running at full speed,” Almeda said.

The NGCP itself is monitoring the progress and rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in other countries.

In the early weeks of the pandemic, the NGCP was one of the first private companies to rally its resources to help the government’s response to the pandemic.

The NGCP, the operator of the country’s electricity transmission system, donated a P1-billion package that includes ambulances, medical supplies and equipment, as well as protective gear for medical front-liners and relief packages for families most affected by the pandemic’s economic fallout.

In addition, Salceda said, the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act allows President Rodrigo Duterte to suspend duties for COVID-19 vaccines upon the recommendation of the National Economic Development Authority.

“We can also legislate this. I am in constant communication with the economic managers, so, once the first shipments are ready, we can easily recommend the suspension of duties,” said Salceda, who also cochairs the House economic stimulus and recovery cluster. INQ