Drilon urged to speed up deliberations on sin tax bill

MANILA, Philippines - Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile called on finance committee chairman Sen. Franklin Drilon to speed up deliberations on the sin tax reform bill so that Congress could act on the measure once session resumes on Nov. 5.

Enrile made the call after the sin tax measure, dubbed as a priority measure by the Aquino administration, suffered a setback after Sen. Ralph Recto resigned as chairman of the Senate ways and means committee about two weeks ago due to criticisms.

Recto received flak for his committee report that aimed to target only P10 billion to P15 billion in revenues, was way below the government’s target of P60 billion of combined taxes from tobacco and alcohol.

Enrile said the ball is now in the hands of Drilon, who has assumed as temporary chairman of the ways and means committee.  

“It’s now with Drilon’s (committee). If he will push for the Recto version, how will he push for it when he is against it?”  Enrile said in a radio interview.

Drilon is currently in Canada for the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting along with Senators Ferdinand Marcos, Edgardo Angara and Pia Cayetano. 

They are expected to be back before Congress resumes session on Nov. 5 after the All Souls’ Day break.

If Drilon will simply adopt the bill of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, which is similar to the administration’s version, Enrile said it would likely be met with many questions.

“There are many issues here when we talk about numbers. Can we raise the P60-billion tax? If not, how much?” Enrile said.

He said the sin tax measure could be passed in one day if everybody agrees. However, it might have to hurdle tough questions from those who do not see eye to eye with Malacañang and the Department of Finance which is projecting P60 billion in revenues.

“If many will ask questions, surely one of them will be Sen. Recto... because his committee report was criticized. Those pushing for the bill will be grilled – what is your basis and what will happen? The bill needs to be studied,” the Senate president said.

Enrile added that Santiago, who has been mostly absent in the Senate due to sickness, will have to be present to answer the questions on how she came up with the numbers in her proposal, including the single rate for tobacco products.

He noted the tight schedule for the passage of the sin tax measure if the administration wants it passed by third week of November.

“We can (pass it) if they will work. No trips, isn’t it there are many who are absent or don’t show up,” Enrile said.

Apart from the sin tax measure, the 2013 national budget is also pending before the Senate. Also pending are the Reproductive Health (RH) and Kasambahay bills.

Sen. Serge Osmeña said last week that Drilon “can simply move and report out the Miriam bill and we can debate it on the floor.”

Osmeña disagrees with Drilon’s option to continue endorsing Recto’s committee report in order to obviate the need to call new public hearings on the sin tax measure.

“Sen. Drilon will find himself in a fix because we can only question him based on what is in the (Recto) committee report... Why will he defend that? He might end up saying, “I agree with you,” Osmeña said.

Osmeña acknowledged on Thursday that Drilon “might as well start on the high side and let people chop it (revenue target) down to size rather than start from the low, pretend that you are defending it when really you are not defending it.”

“Might as well start with the Miriam version,” Osmeña said.

Senators, however, are still waiting for Drilon who is in Quebec attending the IPU. 

“He will be back but would be very busy finalizing the budget. I think he hopes to bring it (2013 budget bill) to the floor by mid-November for President’s signature by December,” Osmeña said.