Lawmakers are currently swamped with urgent tasks. Aside from scrutinizing the 2018 national budget bill, lawmakers are in the middle of searching for ways to meet the massive requirements of rebuilding terrorist-ravaged Marawi City, and crafting the overall development framework required to support the stalled Bangsamoro peace process.
Still, in the view of the Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee chairman, Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, the Senate is on track to pass within the last quarter of 2017 economic measures that are deemed crucial for boosting the government’s priority agenda for inclusive growth while, at the same time, reckoning with urgent rebuilding requirements in Marawi, under siege from terrorists since May 23.
Gatchalian, in fact, flew to Marawi on October 1 and met behind closed doors with local Marawi leaders and the State security forces fighting a vicious war to retake the Islamic city from homegrown terrorist groups, led by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-inspired Maute Group.
To be sure, the requirements for rebuilding Marawi—estimated at anywhere from P40 billion to P47 billion—could pose new complications for the proposed 2018 General Appropriations Act (GAA) that must support the lofty requirements of the government’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program.
Gatchalian said the P20 billion initially cited by the Executive branch as indicative requirement for Marawi’s rehabilitation needs to be doubled at least.
“We will need to spend at least P47 billion to make sure that facilities will be rebuilt and, more important, to bring the lives of the people back to normal,” said Gatchalian, who computed the figure in consultation with Marawi City Mayor Majul Usman Gandamra and other government officials.
Stressing the urgent need to inject public funds into the local economy, Gatchalian said he would work to carve out as much as P40 billion for initial rehabilitation funds when the Senate begins plenary deliberations on the General Appropriations Bill.
“Marawi’s economy is at a standstill right now. What we have to do now is jump-start it, and to do that we are looking at a figure of around P40 billion,” the chairman of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs said.
“We should be looking at the P40-billion vicinity so that we can rehabilitate not only infrastructure, but also the livelihood of the people. Their welfare should also be our concern,” he added.
The senator, who also serves as a member of the Senate Special Committee on Marawi City Rehabilitation, emphasized that the aim of government rehabilitation efforts should be to improve the quality of life of Marawi City residents in the long term.
“We have to remember that Marawi was one of the poorest cities before this all happened, so we can’t just rehabilitate it and bring it back to the way it was before. If we do that, it would still be the poorest. We need to level up investments here,” he said.
In Gatchalian’s view, the funding for Marawi could be partly sourced from the 2018 national budget as Congress has yet to finalize allocation’s for next year’s GAA.
Other priorities
Beyond Marawi, the Senate is focusing on other measures that are deemed to support long-term initiatives for boosting the economy, such as the Benham Rise Authority, which will set up the agency to oversee development of the resource-rich Benham Rise that government scientists said holds great promise for the fisheries sector, among others.
Also under deliberations are the Mindanao Development Act, which had long been in the legislative mill and seen to support the Duterte administration’s initiatives for a more comprehensive, coordinated effort to develop the South as the government continues the disrupted process of the Bangsamoro peace program; the Evoss, or the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop, a pet measure of Gatchalian; the Philippine Innovation Act; the “One Belt, One Road” initiative; the Philippine Innovation Act; and a bill, titled “Easing the Cost of Doing Business”.
There are also pending measures that have advanced in the Senate Legislative mill, and which, though not directly related to boosting economic growth, are, nonetheless, crucial for carrying out reforms to strengthen the economic framework.
Among them are the proposed Fiscal Monetary Report Act, Contingent Liabilities Disclosure Act, Center for Strategic Study and Foreign Debt Audit Act.
Earlier, Gatchalian assured the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs’s readiness to front-load the passage of legislation complementing President Duterte’s economic agenda.
The senator admitted he was encouraged by Duterte’s interest in effectively addressing economic issues, even as Gatchalian affirmed the Senate panel will respond accordingly by crafting remedial laws addressing economic issues.
Also high on the list are proposed legislations to eradicate red tape and trim the bloated bureaucracy. Gatchalian affirmed support for legislation “eradicating red tape and trimming the fat” in the government bureaucracy, pointing out that red tape slows down the delivery of basic social services to the public, and it discourages both domestic business development and foreign direct investment.
Saying it is time to “cut red tape for good”, Gatchalian committed to work with the administration to help ensure it meets the ambitious target raising infrastructure spending from 5 percent to 7 percent of GDP by year 2022, in recognition of “the vital role of this substantial investment in infrastructure to the government’s push to meet its goals under the AmBisyon Natin 2040 socioeconomic plan”.
At the same time, the senator is backing a revamp of the air transportation sector, noting that “improving the efficiency and reliability of this much-maligned Philippine sector will do wonders for the Philippine tourism industry”, while benefiting international businesses reliant on aerial trade routes.
Still, Gatchalian prodded the President to adopt short-term solutions to “address the worsening gridlock in Metro Manila and other urban areas in the Philippines”.
He also assured support for Duterte’s suggestion to reform the procurement law, even as Gatchalian voiced concern that any gains made in the efficiency and quality of procurement should not come at the expense of fiscal transparency and public accountability.
On pending tax reforms, Gatchalian affirmed earlier assurance by the Senate leadership that senators would conduct “fair, thorough and independent deliberations before making any commitments”.
“I want to rely, dissect and analyze the tax-reform bill to ensure that its provisions are really as pro-poor as its proponents say it is. Making the wrong decision on this bill could serve a crippling blow to impoverished households already struggling to make ends meet,” the senator said.
Image credits: AP/Aaron Favila