A member of the House Committee on Economic Affairs urged the leadership of the 17th Congress to pass the ease of doing business bill before the year ends.
Rep. Frederick W. Siao of the Lone District of Iligan City said the economy needs the new law “sooner rather than later.” The passage of the bill, he added, would simplify the issuance of license, clearance or permit to business entities.
“There is some talk about a special session of Congress for some other bill or bills. If Malacañang wants a special session before 2017 is over, I hope the request of the Palace will include the two versions of the ease of doing business bill of the House and of the Senate,” Siao said.
“If a special session can make that happen, I favor that…it will be the Christmas gift of the 17th Congress to the business community and the thousands of Filipino entrepreneurs and small businesses out there,” he added.
The House Bill (HB) 6579, or Ease of Doing Business Act, and Senate Bill (SB) 1311, or the Expanded Anti-Red Tape Act, are now pending before the congressional bicameral conference committee.
House Committee on Trade and Industry Chairman Rep. Ferjenel G. Biron of the Fourth District of Iloilo said, “Hopefully, we could have bicam [meeting] next week.”
But House Committee on Economic Affairs Chairman Rep. Arthur C. Yap of the Third District of Bohol, member of the bicameral discussing the ease of doing business measure, said the committee may focus tackling the measure next year, as “all attention is on the TRAIN [Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion] bicam.”
Moreover, Siao said HB 6579 and SB 1311 are similar in many aspects, and that “many provisions are similar,” but different as to Short Title: Ease of Doing Business Act (HB 6579) compared to the Expanded Anti-Red Tape Act (SB 1311).
“But if HB 6579 and SB 1311 will not be certified as urgent, enactment would likely happen in the first quarter [before the summer break] or in May 2018 before the second regular session ends,” he said.
“Those several months would be time lost. Add to that the 90 days allowed for the crafting and approval of the implementing rules and regulations. Add also the time it would take to put in place the IT [information-technology] systems needed,” Siao added.
SB 1311 proposes the creation the Business Anti-Red Tape and Competitiveness Bureau, while the House version creates an Ease of Doing Business Commission (EDBC).
“I am expecting that the short title of HB 6579 will be the one adopted at the bicameral conference committee because the contents of both bills pertain specifically to transactions of businesses and entrepreneurs with government agencies. Red tape is the nomenclature of wider scope which would include transactions that are not business or enterprise related because government agencies transact with more than just businesses and entrepreneurs,” he said.
The lawmaker, citing the Administrative Code of 1987, said there are two types of bureaus: the line and staff bureaus. Staff bureau essentially provides staff support to the department secretary, while line bureau implements department directives and implementing rules of national laws concerning the department.
On the other hand, Siao said a commission, in Philippine administrative law, is an attached agency.
“While the Ease of Doing Business Commission in HB 6579 is attached to the DTI [Department of Trade and Industry], in future administrations, the President can transfer the EDBC to other departments or to the Office of the President. Other agencies have had trouble whenever they get transferred to the supervision of other departments of office,” he added.
“The decision is now with the bicameral conference committee on which approach to adopt. If they choose the bureau approach, I hope the new bureau will be a line bureau so it can have field offices to implement at the LGU [local government unit] level of cities and towns. If the bureau is just a staff bureau, I do not expect that bureau to be effective in implementing the new law,” he said.
Meanwhile, Biron said “the purpose of this bill is to provide an easy, simple, straightforward and trouble-free avenue for entrepreneurs, micro, small and medium businesses and ordinary citizens who would like to venture into business in the country.”
With its 12th-largest population and the 43rd-largest economy in the world, Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. of the Second District of Camarines Sur, the panel vice chairman and one of the authors of the bill, said the Philippines has been ranked as the second most-favored destination for foreign direct investment in Southeast Asia.
However, Villafuerte said the Philippines’s rank in ease of doing business is one of the lowest in the world at 171st out of 185 countries this year.
Rep. Vilma Santos-Recto of the Sixth District of Batangas, also author of the bill, said it takes 16 procedures to navigate and an average of 29 days to start a business in the country.
“Compared to our other Asean neighbors in the ‘Ease in Starting a Business’ rankings, the Philippines has performed poorly,” Santos-Recto said.
HB 6579 aims to provide a business environment that is conducive for the establishment and operation of enterprises in the country.
The measure also intends to promote transparency in the government with regard to business registration and other manner of public transactions, to reduce red tape and expedite permitting, licensing and other similar transactions in the government.
It seeks to ensure timely and expeditious processing of business requirements by national government agencies and local government units.