SENATOR Richard Gordon on Tuesday backed calls for the passage of a bill that seeks to grant preferential tax rates to educational institutions amid the pandemic.

Gordon said Senate Bill 2272 or An Act Amending Section 27B of the National Internal Revenue Code will help private learning institutions survive during the pandemic.

The Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations, an umbrella organization of 2,500 educational and learning institutions in the country, sought intervention and asked the Senate to approve the measure.

“We support the urgent enactment of the bill as we realize the fundamental role of education as an element of social and economic development,” Gordon said in a statement.

“We must ensure that the education sector is stable especially now that we currently face a health crisis to avert long-term disruptions of the education system,” he added.

Gordon stressed that the 25 percent tax rate earlier imposed on Proprietary Educational Institutions by the Bureau of Internal Revenue will further burden private schools already struggling to survive because of the pandemic.

“We want to help them recover from their financial downturn,” Gordon said.

“We are endorsing the immediate passage of SBN 2272 as we support the development of our children by making sure that schools operate and recover from their economic losses and we believe that education is the most important tool for accelerating human resources,” he added.