THE House of Representatives has a full plate of must-pass pieces of legislation to help the Marcos administration create job opportunities and a better life for Filipinos while sustaining the momentum of the country’s economic recovery.
Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda said the lower chamber will make the most of its time to approve the legislative agenda of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and both houses of Congress.
Romualdez and Salceda both expressed hope that Congress will prioritize these priority measures to fast track the Philippines’ economic recovery.
“Our economy has reached the first stage to full recovery but we need to sustain the momentum. We are facing a crisis not of our own making. The post-pandemic recovery efforts and global tensions push all economies of the world to the brink,” Romualdez added.
“We want to hurdle the biggest challenge of reducing poverty through the attainment of inclusive growth. Everyone should benefit from the gains of economic growth,” the Speaker added.
According to Salceda, the focus of the House of Representatives—through the Committee on Ways and Means—remains tax reforms towards higher revenues and better collections.
The lawmaker has also expressed confidence that the Ways and Means committee will achieve its five goals for end-2022.
These goals, Salceda said, are to exceed the revenue targets by at least 10 percent; narrow the projected deficit by at least 0.2 percentage points, from 7.6 percent of GDP to 7.4 percent; find non-tax and extraordinary sources for the P180 billion in unprogrammed funds in the 2023 budget; have at least one new revenue regulation clarifying tax administration issued and pass at least one tax law.
Moreover, Romualdez said the House of Representatives will be a steady partner of Malacañang in pushing for the swift passage of the President’s legislative agenda.
“Most of my priority bills are part of President Marcos’s legislative agenda that he enumerated during his first SONA. We will prioritize the passage of these measures,” he said.
“These bills are aimed at helping the President’s goal of attaining a better Philippines by ensuring more job opportunities and better life for Filipinos,” Romualdez said.
Some of these measures are the Valuation Reform Bill, Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery (GUIDE) bill, National Defense Act, National Government Rightsizing Program, Virology Institute of the Philippines bill, Budget Modernization bill, Medical Reserve Corps Bill, E-Governance Act, Internet Transaction Act, and Unified System of Separation, Retirement and Pension bill.
“We also want to assure [the people] also that every centavo of the 2023 national budget will be spent wisely to implement programs that would save lives, protect communities and make our economy strong and more agile,” he added.
Romualdez also vowed that the House of Representatives will do its part to bring to fruition—through passage of pro-investment laws—the objectives of all bilateral trade and investment agreements following the recent state visits of the President.
“These include the eCommerce Bill, the National Government Rightsizing Program, the eGovernance Act, amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, and amendments to the Build-Operate-Transfer Law, among others,” Romualdez added.
“What is important is we all do our share in nation-building. We all hope to capitalize on the early gains of the Marcos administration in order to steer our economy back to its pre-pandemic growth,” he added.
He said the President came from very successful state visits in Indonesia and Singapore where the Chief Executive brought in over $14 billion in investment pledges.
Earlier, the Palace said over 112,000 new jobs will be created from the business deals secured by the President during his recent working trip in the United States.
Malacañang said this was the initial projected number of employment opportunities to be generated by the estimated $3.9 billion worth of investments from the said visit.
‘Keep the business going’
For his part, Salceda said the House is committed to ensure timely enactment of bills providing jobs to those able to work.
“We need business to keep going and need to keep prices of basic commodities down to pre-pandemic level,” said Salceda, the resident economist of the lower chamber.
“Fiscal strength is the foundation of any modern, globalizing economy. It is the ability of the state to deliver public goods that determines the capacity of a country for growth beyond the efforts of its own people,” he added.
To that effect, Salceda said his Committee on Ways and Means will continue to prioritize fiscal reforms that will create more public goods and accelerate growth.
According to Salceda, the Senate will likely approve its own version of the proposed Ease of Paying Taxes Act, and by 2022 or early in 2023, this will likely be enacted into law.
Salceda said the existing committee reports on Digital VAT, the proposed Package 4 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP), and Plastic Bags Excise Tax will move as scheduled.
“We are studying a series or package of health taxes—on alcohol mixes, vape, sugary beverages, junk food—to increase fiscal resources for health, especially given concerns about PhilHealth’s fund life. The first hearings of the Committee once session resumes will be on these proposals,” said Salceda.
On the tax administration side, the lawmaker said the House is now working with the Department of Finance and the Bureau of Internal Revenue on making the shift of BPOs to the Board of Investments easier.
“This will allow them to keep their work-from-home arrangements. We are also working on clearer taxation for employee stock options, which the President and the House leadership wants, after their US state visit,” he said.
BPO companies are shifting from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to the Board of Investments to continue receiving tax perks while sustaining work-from-home arrangements.
Also, Salceda said smuggling remains a primary concern for the Committee on Ways and Means, especially as it relates to a bleeding of foreign currency without the corresponding revenue returns.
“So, we are supportive of proposals to classify illicit trade in tobacco and other excised products as economic sabotage. Agricultural smuggling is a major concern, so we will continue to work with the Bureau of Customs to make inspections more effective,” he said.
Meanwhile, House Majority Leader, and Zamboanga City 2nd District Rep. Manuel Jose M. Dalipe said there is a “higher level of consensus” in the House of Representatives this 19th Congress compared to past congresses.
This “higher level of consensus” will help the 19th Congress pass priority measures like the 2023 national budget, he said.
Image credits: AP/Aaron Favila