THE AMERICAN Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. (AmCham) is optimistic about recommended business laws given recent progress in Congress.
Of 105 reforms listed under the Arangkada Philippines (Accelerate Philippines) initiative led by the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines (JFC), two have advanced to third reading and two more have entered the second reading phase at the House of Representatives, tracking by AmCham dated Oct. 19 showed.
This comes on top of eight recommendations already approved by the House. These include the Customs Modernization and Tariffs Act, Data Privacy Act, Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives, World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty, and an act allowing the direct remittance to local government units of their national tax shares.
“I would say there are quite a few more bills moving out of committee to second reading in both House and Senate,” said John D. Forbes, AmCham legislative committee chairman.
“We, the JFC and Philippine business groups, have been meeting with Senate committee chairmen, senators [Francis G.] Escudero, [Ralph G.] Recto, and [Manual B.] Villar [Jr.] and will meet the House leadership in mid-November,” he told BusinessWorld in a text message.
“We are optimistic the Congress will send many business reform measures to … President [Benigno S. C. Aquino III] in 2012,” most likely the data privacy and anti-cybercrime acts, and the creation Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), “all of which are supported by JFC, Philippine business groups to strengthen the BPO (business process outsourcing) sector.”
“The Anti-Trust Law could also pass [the House] on third reading this year and Senate early next year, but bicameral is likely to be tough,” he added.
The House earlier this month approved on second reading bills creating the DICT and amendments to the Anti Money Laundering Act (AMLA). Mr. Forbes’ optimism came despite observations that the AMLA measure was “watered down” and the Aquino administration’s move to downgrade the Commission on Information and Communications Technology — originally tagged as the DICT’s precursor — into a mere bureau under the Department of Science and Technology.
The AmCham tracker, meanwhile, notes that amendments to the Rural Bank Act and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas charter are now pending second reading approval.
The upcoming measures build on 22 economic and business reforms already passed in the 14th Congress as noted by the foreign chambers in an earlier Arangkada report.
The current 15th Congress, meanwhile, has already passed the Government Owned or Controlled Corporations Governance Act (Republic Act 10149) and the Repeal of Nightwork Prohibition for Women (Republic Act 10151) law.
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Source: Business World, Oct. 23, 2011
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