Priority bills would have to wait until after Oct.
By Melissa Luz T. Lopez, Reporter
PRIORITY BILLS pending before the House of Representatives would have to wait until after October before these can be tackled, a senior official said, hinting that some measures would not likely pass due to lack of time.
Pending reform measures are the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), the rationalization of fiscal incentives, and the Freedom of Information (FoI) bill.
The Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act (TIMTA), meanwhile, awaits to be scheduled for a bicameral committee meeting to reconcile the House and Senate versions before being submitted to Malacañang for signing into law.
“Those are on our legislative plate,” Mr. Aggabao said when asked about the direction of the chamber in tackling economic bills. He added that the CMTA and the fiscal incentives rationalization bills may secure passage easily because these have parallel measures at the Senate.
The House committee on appropriations will start deliberating on the proposed P3.002-trillion budget for 2016 on Aug. 10. Once it is opened at the plenary, no other bills can be tackled.
House Majority Leader Neptali M. Gonzales II earlier said that the chamber will pass the budget before their break on Oct. 10.
“We’ll have a lot of time after October. By that time, we’re already done with the budget and the BBL,” Mr. Aggabao said. “So except for the problem of quorum, our legislative calendar after October will be cleared.”
However, Mr. Aggabao said other proposals in Congress would have very slim chances of passage given the expected problem of attendance to hold plenary sessions later this year.
Even now, the House already had problems reaching a quorum as very few lawmakers turn up for plenary ever since President Benigno S. C. Aquino III’s last State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 27. As a result, not one of the bills on the plenary has been tackled yet.
Only those bills which were mentioned in Mr. Aquino’s last SONA would probably see passage during the homestretch of Congressional sessions.
In his SONA last week, the President pushed for the following bills: the BBL, the fiscal incentives bill, unified pension for military officers, the national budget and the anti-political dynasty bill.
Mr. Aggabao, however, said the anti-political dynasty law would be a special case.
“I was surprised that the President chose to mention [the anti-dynasty bill] instead of FoI. But both weren’t certified urgent,” the Deputy Speaker said. “But even if he did certify it as urgent, if the House doesn’t like it, it won’t be taken up.”
Mr. Aquino’s failure to mention FoI in his last address further lessened its chances of passage, Mr. Aggabao said.
“We take a lot of cue based on what the President says in his SONA,” he said.
Among the reforms sought by Malacañang and business groups include the FoI, Fair Competition Law, creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the CMTA, and a comprehensive tax system reform, economic Charter change, and amendments to the Build-Operate-Transfer law.
Only the competition bill has been signed into law.
House Speaker Feliciano R. Belmonte, Jr. and Senate President Franklin M. Drilon have said that they remain committed in pursuing these priority legislative agenda.
BUSINESS SEEKS MORE IMPORTANT REFORMS
Sought for comment, an industry leader said more important bills should be pushed that were excluded from Mr. Aquino’s SONA given the narrowing window.
Peter Wallace, founder of the Wallace Business Forum, agreed that other economic bills would have slim chances. Instead, Congress should instead push for two “more important reforms” for the final leg of legislative work.
“There are two more important bills needs to be passed: the amendments to the economic provisions of the Constitution, and the creation of the DICT,” Mr. Wallace said in a phone interview.
“I have talked to the leaders of Congress and I’m fairly confident these can get through, but the key here is the President’s support.”
“On the other bills, I think it will be difficult to get through,” Mr. Wallace added, saying the chances of the fiscal incentives bill is “small,” citing its “complications.”
Congress has barely seven months of work before adjourning to give way to the campaign period for the May 2016 national elections, which is seen to distract lawmakers from their jobs.
The Legislative branch will hold marathon sessions from July 27 until Oct. 9 to give way to the filing of candidacies. They will reopen from Nov. 3 to Dec. 18 and close for a month-long Christmas break.
Next year, sessions will only last from Jan. 19 to Feb. 5, and will reopen on May 23 after the elections for three weeks of final work before the 16th Congress adjourns.
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