Following the approval for commercial release of Philippine-made Covid-19 test kits, the chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means said the lower chamber will ensure that tax incentives for local health innovations will be included in the proposed Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for
Enterprises (Create) law.
House Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda issued the statement as he lauded the approval of the locally-made Covid-19 test kits.
Salceda said he will be talking with the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to ensure that local health innovations are part of the strategic investment priorities plan (SIPP) under the Create bill.
Produced with the support of the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the testing kit GenAmplify version 2, manufactured by Manila HealthTek, has been approved for commercial use. The announcement was made last Sunday.
“So far, the country has been on the economic defensive,” Salceda said. “With these innovations, we can now take steps to support new industries, new businesses and new sources of scientific and technological development.”
Ensure
The House leader said the move will ensure that health innovations receive preferential tax incentives.
Salceda added he also plans to explore the possibility of allowing the President, during pandemics, to provide the super-incentives under Create, to health and emergency production.
“We could perhaps do this under some sort of emergency production powers,” he said.
Salceda said he also plans to push for assistance for small businesses to be able to pursue patenting of health technologies.
“If we are going to compete with the world, we need to protect what we discover,” the lawmaker added.
Salceda also reiterated his proposal for a more aggressive “production boost,” to motivate consumer demand and production.
He reiterated his early recommendation last March that the country ramp-up food preservation, production of health supplies and other essentials as part of coordinated efforts to boost economic output.
“When people are not confident enough to buy or sell, it is the government’s duty to be the matchmaker of supply and demand,” Salceda said.
Salceda, the House’s resident economist, is the principal author of the Create bill.
Encourage
Salceda, meanwhile, said that the government should encourage the procurement of locally-made test kits.
“As much as possible, there should be no bureaucratic red tape in acquiring in mass these test kits,” he added. “LGUs [local government units] should also be encouraged to procure these kits for their local testing initiatives.”
Salceda said that the country’s Covid-19 related innovations should be “zealously pursued as potential exports to countries with similar challenges as ours.”
“Many countries in our region fit the kind of development constraints that the Philippines has. There is a lot of potential in the innovations that have been coming out of the Philippines lately.”
Salceda pointed to the test kits as an example.
He added that the Philippine abaca, apparently, is also the most optimal material for Covid-19 masks. Salceda cited research by credible experts that suggest virgin coconut oil having “some potential in curing mild Covid-19 cases.”
“Nobody wanted this pandemic to happen. But now that it is upon us, let us use Filipino ingenuity to come out of this crisis as a stronger, more resilient economy,” Salceda said.