Cha-cha resolution before Christmas

MANILA, Philippines - A resolution seeking to amend restrictive economic provisions in the Constitution is likely to get approved before the congressional Christmas break along with other key economic reform measures, House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said yesterday.

Also expected to be passed in the coming days is the joint resolution granting President Aquino special powers to address the looming power shortage in Luzon this summer, Gonzales said.

The chamber is also expected to ratify the proposed P2.606-trillion national budget for 2015 and pass the supplemental budget set to be filed on Monday.

Gonzales said the Resolution of Both Houses No. 1 (RBH1), which seeks to boost the inflow of foreign investments by easing the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution, could be put to a vote for second reading in the coming weeks. Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. authored the resolution.

“We hope we can get a three-fourths vote approval on this, but we’re optimistic because this is a crucial, non-political constitutional reform that has direct benefits to ordinary Filipinos,” Gonzales said.

He said the Senate leadership has already committed to act on RBH 1 as soon as the House approves it. Sen. Ralph Recto has filed a counterpart bill.

“Our agreement with Speaker Belmonte is that they act on the economic provisions, and if they are successful in proposing amendments, we will take it up in the Senate,” Senate President Franklin Drilon said.

Drilon said he has not discussed with Belmonte the details of the economic provisions being readied for amendment.

He said he was not setting a timeline for the deliberation on the measure.

“The fact is at this point, it has not been passed, so it is difficult to assess if there is still time. Remember, that this is not only for next year, since it is an amendment to the Constitution, the effects of which are beyond this Congress,” Drilon said.

Floor discussions

The chamber resumed plenary deliberations on the measure with Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe saying interpellators on RBH 1 would likely be fewer in the coming days. He maintained the resolution would be supported by Filipinos in a plebiscite.

Gonzales also said the chamber aims to pass the proposed Anti-Trust and Competition Law that seeks to consolidate and update laws on competition and establish a strong regulatory agency to deal with anti-competitive practices.

Gonzales said the anti-trust measure is among the economic priority measures listed by both the House and the Senate. The Senate is also expected to pass its own version before the Christmas break.

Also slated for passage is the proposed Customs Modernization and Tariff Act which seeks to align the country’s Tariff and Customs Code with the simplified and harmonized customs procedures and practices adopted in the Revised Kyoto Convention and other international and legal standards.

Belmonte on Wednesday met with leaders of the Joint Foreign Chambers and Philippine business groups to update them on the efforts of the House to pass reform measures.

He said the meeting reinforced “our collaboration in pursuing reforms that would help attain our goal of an inclusive economic growth and development for our country and our people.”

The House is also working on other measures, including the proposed amendments to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Charter aimed at strengthening its regulatory and supervisory powers, rationalization of fiscal incentives to consolidate all existing incentive-giving laws to avoid confusion, redundancy, tax avoidance and other inefficiencies, while facilitating investments; and Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act mandating a full disclosure policy for tax incentives by requiring taxpayers to report incentives in the income tax returns.

The proposed law also seeks the establishment of a Tax Expenditure Account in the national budget to reflect the amount of tax incentives granted to private individuals and corporations.

Also being rushed is the Rationalization of Mining Revenues that seeks to increase the share of the state in mining revenues, and ensure the timely release of local government units’ share in mining profits.

“We are also pursuing measures to promote the development of our infrastructure to encourage more investments, both local and foreign. In this regard, we are studying amendments of the Build Operate Transfer Law, the Cabotage Law and the Electric Power Industry Reform Act or EPIRA. Firmly embedded in these reform measures is the ethos of competitiveness,” Belmonte said.

Thankful

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad thanked lawmakers for the approval of the P2.606- trillion national budget for 2015.

“On behalf of the Aquino administration, we extend our gratitude to our colleagues in Congress for taking swift and appropriate action on the administration’s budget proposal, thus facilitating the enactment of next year’s expenditure blueprint before 2014 comes to a close,” Abad said.

Abad said the DBM has always emphasized the importance of passing the budget law on time so that agencies can “spring to action as soon as the next fiscal year begins.”

“In fact, the government has already begun pre-procurement activities as early as Aug. 1 of this year. This measure, along with the new regime of the General Appropriations Act-as-Release-Document, means that the early passage of the budget will kick-start the fast, high-quality and cost-effective implementation of the 2015 budget,” he said.

“This will then translate to the more efficient delivery of public goods and social services to the people, without compromising quality or raising costs,” Abad said.

“We mustn’t forget what an essential role the 2015 budget plays in our campaign for rapid, sustained and inclusive growth in the country. With 37 percent of the proposed budget now allocated towards social services and 27 percent of the total program already channeled to economic services, we are taking sure and certain steps to improving the lives of every Filipino,” he said.

“This has been the Aquino administration’s goal from the start: to serve the public better through a transparent and citizen-centric national budget, all in the spirit of reform, better governance and daang matuwid,” he added.  – Zinnia dela Peña, Christina Mendez