■ HIRE MORE PWDS, BUSINESSMAN ASKS FELLOW BUSINESS OWNERS

Business leader Philip Tan appeals to fellow business owners to make their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs sustainable.

An advocate of persons with disabilities’ (PWDs) rights urged his fellow business owners to consider hiring PWDs, saying they are productive workers who can be trained. Philip N. Tan, owner of Wellmade Motors and Development Corp., said that though there is no huge economic benefit to doing so, “the important thing is this social consciousness that we are able to help.” Around five percent of Wellmade’s over 100 employees are PWDs. While some business owners think PWDs are less productive, Tan said they have proven to be hard-working and passionate employees.

Persons with disabilities (PWDs) are productive workers whom businesses can very well train and hire, said businessman Philip Tan.

A known advocate for PWDs who provides them training and employment through his company Wellmade Motors and Development Corp., Tan reminded fellow business owners, in an entrepreneurship forum yesterday, of the value of providing jobs to PWDs.

‘Hard-working employees’

“While I see no huge economic benefit to this, the important thing is this social consciousness, that you can help,” said the 58-year-old businessman who also holds key positions in public and private organizations, including the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) 7 as management representative and past president of the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI).

Roughly five percent of Wellmade Motors’ employees are PWDs. Tan currently employs over 100 people in Wellmade Motors’ machine shops located in Mandaue, Tacloban, Tagbilaran, and Dumaguete.

Even up to now, Tan admitted there has been continued dis- crimination against PWDs.

Generally, employers don’t hire them because they think PWDs are less productive workers and appear as liabilities than assets to the company, he said.

But he stressed that PWDs are hard-working and more passionate employees than the average workers.

“They strive harder because they know their limitations,” Tan said. He was one of the speakers yesterday in a forum hosted by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

A 2010 Census showed there were 1.44 million PWDs in the country, composing 1.57 percent of the total population.

While there are many ways for companies to help the com- munity, the executive appealed to fellow business owners to make their corporate social responsibility programs sustainable. He said giving doleouts to the less fortunate is never enough.

Incentives

One sustainable way, Tan said, is to support PWDs by equipping them with industry skills and hiring them. In addition, companies who employ PWDs are given tax incentives, said Tan. Among them is the additional deduction of 25 percent from the company’s “gross income of the total amount paid as salaries and wages to disabled persons.”

But the businessman said he personally did not avail of the incentives as this requires a tedious process.

“PWDs need jobs and skills. That’s how us, business owners, can help,” he quipped.

The Department of Labor and Employment as well as the Department of Social Welfare and Development have recognized Wellmade Motors as a role model in productivity-based incentives and PWD employment, respectively.

Wellmade was first established in 1986 as a micro-small company specializing in trading various commodities with only three workers to start. It was in 1995 when it expanded to metalworks and engineering services.

PWDs need jobs and skills. That’s how us, business owners, can help. PHILIP TAN