SENATE Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Tuesday called on President Rodrigo Duterte to direct the Bureau of Internal Revenue to correct its order imposing a 25-percent corporate income tax on private schools.

Drilon said the directive is ill-conceived and ill-timed.

“I urge the President and the BIR to heed the call of private schools and senators to recall RR 5-2021. It has no basis in CREATE and it defeats the very purpose of CREATE law,” Drilon said.

CREATE, or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises, which was signed into law in March, introduces reforms to the corporate income tax and incentive systems to ease the burden on corporations that have been suffering because of the pandemic.

“This is the reason why, for two years, the law lowers the income tax of proprietary educational institutions to only 1 percent. This is in recognition of the hardship that these institutions had to suffer through, many of which have been forced to close down or whose enrollment has substantially declined,” the senator explained.

Drilon said the erroneous and onerous interpretation of the law can jeopardize thousands of private schools.

“RR 5-2021 could potentially be the ‘last nail in the coffin’ for some of these private schools which barely survived the effects of the pandemic,” he warned.

If not stopped, the BIR order could force private educational institutions to permanently close down, leaving thousands of teachers and non-teaching staff unemployed, the senator said.

“Maawa naman po tayo sa naghihikahos na private schools sa bansa. Huwag na po nating pahirapan pa. Instead, let’s help them get back on track,” Drilon added.