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Southeast Asia · Philippines

Fractional and interim C-suite leadership in Manila

In the Philippines, fractional is not a workaround. In partly nationalised sectors it is the compliant shape.

The Anti-Dummy Law bars foreign nationals from intervening in the management, operation or control of partly nationalised enterprises, permits foreign directors only in proportion to foreign equity, and carries five to fifteen years’ imprisonment. A foreign executive in those businesses is structurally advisory whether or not anyone intended it that way.

Alongside that, separation pay of one month per year of service plus a 30-day DOLE-notified process makes a wrong permanent hire genuinely expensive to unwind.

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The numbers

Fractional, per monthPHP 150,000–450,000/month (USD 2,600–7,900) at one to two days a week; light advisory PHP 60,000–150,000. Regional-calibre executives price in USD at 4,000–10,000 a month.
Full-time, all-inPHP 4.5m–7m for a mid-market CFO, PHP 9m–16m at conglomerate level. All-in with 13th month, bonus, HMO and car allowance: PHP 5.5m–18m, roughly USD 96,000–315,000.
Corporate tax25% standard; 20% for domestic corporations with total assets of PHP 100m or less and net taxable income of PHP 5m or less. Minimum corporate income tax of 2% of gross income from the fourth year.
VAT / GST12%. Registration threshold PHP 3m of gross annual sales. Consulting and management fees are VATable.
Employer on-costsAll capped and therefore trivial at senior salaries: SSS employer 10% on a monthly salary credit capped at PHP 35,000; PhilHealth 2.5% employer on a ceiling of PHP 100,000; Pag-IBIG PHP 200. Total employer statutory cost is about PHP 6,230 a month. The real addition is 13th month pay — a mandatory 8.33%.
SeveranceRedundancy or closure not due to losses: one month per year of service. Retrenchment to prevent losses or closure due to losses: half a month per year. Thirty days’ written notice to both the employee and DOLE is mandatory, and a defective notice converts the dismissal to illegal — exposing the employer to reinstatement plus full backwages.
Work permitsAn AEP plus a 9(g) visa for long-term work, or a Special Work Permit for stays under six months. Because the AEP now carries a labour market test and an understudy obligation, the common structure is a service agreement between the Philippine entity and the executive’s offshore company, with 25% final withholding and 12% VAT on imported services. This does not cure Anti-Dummy exposure in a nationalised sector.

What actually governs this in Philippines

The regimes that change the answer, rather than the ones that sound like they should.

Anti-Dummy Law

Bars foreign nationals from intervening in the management, operation, administration or control of partly nationalised enterprises. Foreign directors permitted only in proportion to foreign equity; technical personnel need express Department of Justice authority. Penalties reach fifteen years and dissolution.

Foreign Investments Act and the Negative List

Foreign-owned domestic-market corporations need USD 200,000 of paid-in capital, reduced to USD 100,000 where 50 or more Filipinos are employed or advanced technology is used. Export enterprises are exempt.

Alien Employment Permit, DOLE DO 248 (2025)

Now requires a labour market test, an economic needs test, an affidavit that no qualified Filipino applied, and a mandatory understudy training programme. Non-compliance brings a PHP 10,000 annual fine and a five-year ban.

CREATE MORE Act and PEZA

Registered business enterprises elect an income tax holiday then either a special corporate rate or enhanced deductions, plus VAT zero-rating on qualifying local purchases. Incentive-regime restructuring is frequently an incoming executive’s first project.

Why companies here buy it

  • Separation pay of one month per year plus a 30-day DOLE process, with illegal-dismissal exposure if the business justification fails, makes a wrong permanent hire expensive to unwind.
  • The DO 248 regime makes a full-time foreign C-suite hire slow and paperwork-heavy. A contracted mandate avoids it.
  • Family-conglomerate governance rewards a senior outsider brought in for a defined transition rather than a permanent seat.

How business is done

  • Ownership and executive authority are fused. The corporate landscape is dominated by family-controlled conglomerates where real decisions sit with the family rather than the org chart, so an explicitly time-boxed adviser framing is more effective and less politically threatening than a full C-title.
  • The corporate secretary must be a Filipino citizen resident in the Philippines and the treasurer a Philippine resident — statutory roles that are already routinely held by outside professionals.

Market context

  • MSMEs are around 99.5% of registered establishments and employ roughly 65% of the workforce.
  • Banks have persistently missed the mandatory MSME lending quota, so growth capital is scarce and investor-grade reporting is the binding constraint.

By role

CFO

Fractional CFO

Cash, controls, reporting and the numbers investors and lenders will actually believe.

COO

Fractional COO

Turning a business that works because people try hard into one that works because it is designed to.

CTO

Fractional CTO

Technical judgment for companies whose product decisions have outgrown their engineering.

CMO

Fractional CMO

Positioning, pricing and demand generation — owned by someone senior enough to say no.

CRO

Fractional CRO

A repeatable commercial engine, rather than a founder who happens to be good at selling.

CISO

Fractional CISO

Security leadership for companies whose customers and regulators have started asking questions they cannot answer.

CHRO

Fractional CHRO

Employment structure, senior hiring and the people risk nobody looks at until it is expensive.

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Sources

Figures are compiled from the sources below and reviewed quarterly. Tax and employment law change; check the position before you rely on it, and take local advice on anything material.

PwC — Philippines corporate taxesComputing separation payAlien Employment Permit under DO 248

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