Guidelines for the Issuance of IATF Accreditation ID or Equivalent Certification

May 12, 2020 MICROFINANCE NGO REGULATORY COUNCIL TO : Microfinance NGOs Accredited under Republic ActNo. 10693, Otherwise Known as the Microfinance NGOs A c t SUBJECT : Guidelines for the Issuance of IATF Accreditation ID or Equivalent Certification NOTICE By virtue of the Omnibus Guidelines on the Implementation of Community Quarantine in the Philippines (Omnibus Guidelines) issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases on 30 April 2020, microfinance institutions are now allowed to work or operate in areas under community quarantine, provided they are permitted to do so by agency/ies having regulatory jurisdiction over them. Inasmuch as the Microfinance NGO Regulatory Council (MNRC) monitors the performance of accredited microfinance NGOs (MF-NGOs) to ensure continuing compliance with the Microfinance NGOs Act and its implementing rules and regulations, the MNRC deems it necessary to issue the following guidelines which prescribe the requirements and procedures for the issuance of IATF accreditation ID or its equivalent: A. REQUIREMENTS 1. Letter requesting for the issuance of IATF accreditation ID or the equivalent certification, as required under Section 2.11 of the Omnibus Guidelines. (Please see attached template). 2. Certified list of employees of the accredited Microfinance NGO (Head Office and/or Branches): i. Which shall comprise the skeleton workforce 1 in areas under enhanced community quarantine; and/or ii. Which shall have a maximum of fifty percent (50%) work-on-site personnel in areas under general community quarantine, provided that such arrangement is without prejudice to work-from-home and other alternative work arrangements. The employees above-listed must not be any person below twenty-one (21) years old, those who are sixty (60) years old and above, those who are pregnant, or those with immunodeficiency, comorbidities or other health risks, unless such persons are indispensable under the circumstances for work in permitted industries and offices under the Omnibus Guidelines. In this case, a justification/explanation must be submitted by the accredited MF-NGO for the consideration/approval of the MNRC. The certification must indicate a representation that the accredited MF-NGO has provided every employee, as above-listed, a copy of the certificate of employment or engagement 2 (for outsourced employees, e.g. , driver). Also, the certification must provide that the accredited MF-NGO: i. Has adopted the pertinent policy, procedures and safeguards which will comply with strict social distancing measures in the workplace and in vehicles to be used in transporting the employees; ii. Has made the necessary arrangements for the transport of their employees from their residences to the office and back; and iii. Has informed their employees of said policy, procedures and safeguards and the transport arrangement. The certification/s issued by the accredited MF-NGO shall be signed by the President or his/her equivalent officer. 3. Certification that the accredited MF-NGO shall ONLY print and provide the IATF accreditation IDs or its equivalent to the employees whose names have been approved by the MNRC, through its Secretariat (the Corporate Governance and Finance Department of the Securities and Exchange Commission), 3 as part of the skeleton workforce in ECQ areas or work-on-site personnel in GCQ areas. (Please see attached template). 4. The following documents must be submitted with the CGFD within ten (10) calendar days from the date the quarantine order has been lifted or withdrawn: a. Hard/Physical Copies of Documents applicant MF-NGO shall submit hard copies of the documents with proper notarization and wet signatures of authorized and appropriate representatives of the company; and b. Certification To ensure the integrity of the documents, the applicant MF-NGO must issue a certification that the hard copies submitted refer to one and the same document that they filed via email. Such certification must also indicate the date of their submission through email. The certification/s issued by the accredited MF-NGO shall be signed by the President or his /her equivalent officer. B. PROCEDURES: 1. Only MF-NGOs accredited by the MNRC may request for the issuance of IATF accreditation IDs or any equivalent certification. 2. Any request shall be addressed to MNRC Chairperson Emilio B. Aquino and sent to [emailprotected] . 3. The MNRC Secretariat shall verify the completeness of the request and endorse the same to the MNRC for the issuance of the IATF accreditation ID or certification. 4. In the verification process, the MNRC Secretariat may inquire the following after ensuring the complete submission of the above requirements: i. Total number of employees of the accredited Microfinance NGO (Head Office and/or Branches); ii. Percentage (%) of employees listed as a skeleton workforce or part of the work-on-site personnel over the total number of employees of the accredited Microfinance NGO (Head Office and/or Branches); iii. Work arrangement/scheme of the skeleton workforce or work-on-site personnel, e.g. , rotational, alternate, etc.; iv. Justification as to the inclusion of these employees in the skeleton workforce or work-on-site personnel; or v. Any information the MNRC Secretariat may deem necessary in evaluating the request of the accredited MF-NGO. 5. If the requirements submitted are incomplete or the provided information is insufficient, the MNRC Secretariat shall inform the accredited MF-NGO of its deficiency/ies. 6. If the accredited MF-NGO has complied with such deficiency/ies and the reply to the above information is deemed satisfactory, per evaluation of the MNRC Secretariat, the request shall be approved. 7. The IATF accreditation ID template and the instructions on how to print the same shall be sent through the e-mail of the authorized representative of the accredited MF-NGO. 8. After receiving the template and instructions, the accredited MF-NGO shall advise its employees (forming part of the skeleton workforce or work-on-site personnel) to always bring the following for presentation to the law enforcement agencies, especially if so required: i. MNRC-issued IATF accreditation ID or any equivalent thereof; ii. Company ID; iii. Company-issued certificate of employment; and iv. Copy of the Omnibus Guidelines (Available at: https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/2020/04apr/2020030-EO-112-RRD.pdf ). 9. The accredited MF-NGO shall ALWAYS implement measures to ensure that no unauthorized person/s shall acquire and/or be in possession of the IATF accreditation ID/s or any equivalent certification for use outside of microfinance purposes. 10. Any misrepresentation of the accredited MF-NGO in obtaining the IATF accreditation ID or its equivalent and/or the abuse in its use shall be dealt with accordingly, including the revocation of certificate of MNRC accreditation, without prejudice to the separate imposition of any administrative sanction to the corporation. ATTACHMENT Template Letter-Request May 2020 EMILIO B. AQUINO Chairperson MICROFINANCE NGO REGULATORY COUNCIL Secretariat Bldg., PICC Complex Vicente Sotto Street 1307 Pasay City SUBJECT : REQUEST FOR IATF ACCREDITATION ID OR EQUIVALENT CERTIFICATION FOR (NAME OF MF-NGO) Dear Chairperson Aquino: This is in reference to the Omnibus Guidelines on the Implementation of Community Quarantine in the Philippines (Omnibus Guidelines) issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases on 30 April 2020, which allows microfinance institutions to operate in areas under community quarantine provided they are permitted by regulatory agencies having jurisdiction over them. In this regard, we hereby request that in accordance with Section 2.11 of the Omnibus Guidelines, the Microfinance NGO Regulatory Council (MNRC), having jurisdiction over accredited Microfinance NGOs (MF-NGOs) under Republic Act No. 10693, otherwise known as the Microfinance NGOs Act , to issue IATF accreditation IDs or its equivalent certification to (NAME OF MF-NGO) . Further to this request, we submit the requirements prescribed in the Notice issued by the MNRC on __ May 2020, which provides the guidelines for the issuance of such ID or its equivalent certification, as follows: 1. Letter requesting for the issuance of IATF accreditation ID or the equivalent certification; 2. Certified list of employees which shall comprise the skeleton (skeletal) workforce and/or have a maximum fifty percent (50%) work-on-site personnel in areas under enhanced community quarantine and/or general community quarantine, respectively, with a representation that (NAME OF MF-NGO) has provided every employee in the said skeleton workforce and/or work-on-site personnel a certificate of employment or engagement (for outsourced employees, e.g. , driver), which shall specify therein the name, age and residential address of the individual employee, as well as the office address of the accredited MF-NGO (Annex A) ; 4 and 3. Certification that the (NAME OF MF-NGO) shall ONLY print and provide the IATF accreditation IDs or its equivalent to the employees whose names have been approved by the MNRC, through its Secretariat (the Corporate Governance and Finance Department of the Securities and Exchange Commission) (Annex B) . We assure the MNRC that any IATF accreditation ID or its equivalent Certification issued shall be used solely for microfinance-related operations. We also undertake to submit hard copies of the documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission within ten (10) calendar days from the time the Enhanced Community Quarantine is lifted or withdrawn and in accordance with the abovementioned Notice. Very truly yours, (NAME OF PRESIDENT) President or equivalent officer (NAME OF Accredited MF-NGO) ________________________________________________ <Insert Accredited Microfinance NGO's Letterhead> CERTIFICATION I, <Name of President or Any Equivalent Officer> , Filipino, of legal age with address at <Residential or Office Address> hereby certify that: 1. I am the <President or Any Equivalent Officer> of <Name of Accredited Microfinance NGO> ("Accredited Microfinance NGO"), a company duly organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the Republic of the Philippines with principal office address at <Principal Office of the Accredited Microfinance NGO> ; 2. The Microfinance NGO is registered before the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") with SEC Registration No. < > , accredited by the Microfinance NGO Regulatory Council ("MNRC") with MNRC Accreditation No. < > issued on <Date of MNRC Accreditation> valid for three (3) years and has been recognized as a necessary financial service/institution allowed to operate during the community quarantine period under the Omnibus Guidelines for the Implementation of the Community Quarantine in the Philippines of the Inter-Agency Task Force ("IATF") for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases; 3. The Accredited Microfinance NGO received the IATF accreditation ID template from the MNRC through the MNRC Secretariat; 4. The Accredited Microfinance NGO shall print and provide the IATF accreditation IDs ONLY to employees whose names have been approved by the MNRC as part of the Accredited Microfinance NGO's skeleton workforce or work-on-site arrangement for areas under community quarantine; and 5. The Accredited Microfinance NGO shall ALWAYS implement measures to ensure that no unauthorized person/s shall acquire and/or be in possession of the IATF accreditation ID/s or any equivalent certification for use outside of microfinance purposes. <Date of Execution>, <Place of Execution> <Signature> <Name of President or Any Equivalent Officer> Footnotes 1. Under Section 1 (8) of the Omnibus Guidelines, a skeleton workforce "refers to the operational capacity which utilizes the smallest number of people needed for a business organization to maintain its basic function ." (Underscoring supplied) For purposes of this Notice, the skeleton workforce shall be determined by the MNRC Secretariat based on the additional information it may require from the requesting accredited MF-NGO. 2. The certificate of employment/engagement issued to the employees by the accredited MF-NGO shall specify therein the name, age and residential address of the individual employee, as well as the office address of the accredited MF-NGO. 3. Under Rule 3, Section 5 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Microfinance NGOs Act, the Secretariat of the MNRC, which shall coordinate the activities involved in the monitoring and regulation of accredited MF-NGOs, among others, shall be lodged at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Since the establishment of the MNRC, the Corporate Governance and Finance Department of the SEC has acted as the MNRC Secretariat. 4. For the other contents of the said Certification, please see the Notice as published in the SEC website.