Charter change seen to top Congress agenda amid pending priority measures
IT IS reasonable to expect that charter change will be the predominant theme in the agenda of this year’s 18th Congress.
The House of Representatives of the current 17th Congress endeavored to pass its version of a draft federal charter — a move that stood no chance, however, in its next arena, the Senate. On the other hand, half of the 28 priority measures identified by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) remain pending in the 17th Congress, whose working days in 2019 are Jan. 14 to Feb. 8 and, after the midterm elections, May 20 to June 7.
Of the 14 measures already passed by the 17th Congress, five await President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s signature and nine have been enacted into law, including, from 2017, the law on Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education and the first package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP).
The other measures signed into law last year are the Philippine Qualifications Framework Act; Free Irrigation Services Act; Ease of Doing Business; Balik Scientist Act; Mental Health Act; National ID System Law; and Occupational Safety and Health Standards Law.
The five measures on the President’s desk, as of this reporting Dec. 16, are the proposed law on the Utilization of the Coconut Levy Fund; amendments to the Social Security Act; Enhanced Universal Healthcare Act; the much anticipated Revised Agricultural Tariffication Act, which is aimed at resolving rice supply issues; and Package 1-B of the tax reform program, on tax amnesty for individual taxpayers.
‘PRODUCTIVE CONGRESS’
Sought for comment, senior adviser John D. Forbes of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) said the 17th Congress “has been one of the most productive congresses in passing laws that benefit the business sector and improve the economy.”
Mr. Forbes provided BusinessWorld a list each of the 18 measures passed by the 17th Congress since 2016, including the measures enacted into law this year; 18 measures noted by AmCham as still pending in Congress; and 21 measures “which are less advanced — and in some cases not introduced — and should be enacted by Congress during the current administration,” he said.
Mr. Forbes also cited one particular law signed by Mr. Duterte in 2017, Republic Act 10966 declaring the Feast of Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8 as a Special Non-working Holiday — as an example of a legislative measure that makes the economy “less competitive.”
Of the 18 pending measures in Mr. Forbes’s list, two are identified by LEDAC as being “in advance(d) stages”: the amendments to the Public Services Act and the alternative, cash-based Budget Reform Act, both approved by the House and pending second reading in the Senate.
Other measures also in their advanced stages are the proposed Rightsizing of the National Government Act, a measure that is expected to impact on the government’s work force; the also much anticipated Security of Tenure Bill, concerning primarily the private sector; and the proposed National Transport Act, to address the traffic situation in Metro Manila and elsewhere in the country. All these measures have been approved by the House and are pending on second reading in the Senate.
Another measure in the LEDAC list, the proposed Allowable/Recoverable System Loss Act, has been approved by both chambers of Congress, whereas the Forestland Limits Act, also identified as a priority, has been approved by the House and is pending at the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.
Many of the items in Mr. Forbes’s list of pending measures have been approved by the House and are pending at the committee level or for second-reading approval at the Senate: amendments to the Telecommunication Act and to the Clean Air Act; the bills on Crop Insurance for CARP Beneficiaries and for Farmers and Fisherfolk; the proposed Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act; National Land Use Act; Philippine Innovation Act; and the proposed laws on Real Property Valuation Reform and on Open Access for Data Transmission.
Mr. Forbes identified four measures that he said the Joint Foreign Chambers are urging Congress to pass: the proposed law on Open Access for Data Transmission, and the proposed amendments to the Foreign Investment Act, the Public Services Act, and the Retail Trade Act, this last particular measure still under deliberation by the technical working groups of both the Senate and House committees on trade.
“When enacted, these reforms should bring in many billions of dollars and potentially create hundreds of thousands of job for Filipinos,” Mr. Forbes said.
CHARTER CHANGE
Also identified by LEDAC as a priority measure, and duly passed by the House but promptly killed by the Senate, is the Resolution of Both Houses No. 15 on establishing federalism via charter change.
Apart from that move, a Consultative Committee earlier formed by Mr. Duterte had submitted its recommendations based on its designated task to review the 1987 Constitution. “What did Congress do after the ConCom submitted a Bayanihan Federalism draft to the President — they passed their own. Why did the President allow that?” said lawyer and legal consultant Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco when sought for comment.
“The 17th Congress is pretty much the same as the other congresses. They still follow the bidding of Malacañang. They don’t have a strong original legislative agenda on their own,” he added.
Yet apart from that evidently political agenda, “I think the 17th Congress actually provided us with a lot of socioeconomic policies the government can work on,” said professor Natividad Cristina J. Gruet of the University of Asia and the Pacific-School of Law, who was also sought for comment. “These are policies that perhaps do not have a direct effect in the economy right away, but certainly (are) consistent with the Duterte (government’s) 10-point agenda.”
“At the same time,…these are social policies that I think are quite important,” Ms. Gruet also said, as she cited the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, Anti-Hospital Deposit Law, Free Irrigation Service Act, and the Balik Scientist Program.
“I would also think certainly the federalist agenda would come in as a priority. I mean it is almost considered dead at this point,…but I think, depending on the results of the 2019 election, if you have more pro-Duterte senators, then I suppose it will become a very important agenda,” Ms. Gruet said.
“With that eventuality, it’s hard to imagine significant legislation will be done,” Magdalo Representative and senatorial aspirant Gary C. Alejano of the opposition said when sought too for comment. “I surmise it will take about until December, and then a possible plebiscite in January, in February 2020 — that’s assuming they (the administration candidates) win in the Senate.”
“I don’t know how the President will react to that kasi unpredictable siya (because he’s unpredictable),” Mr. Yusingco for his part said. ‘He might just say, ‘Okay, ayaw niyo? Forget about it.’ Then wala na siyang gagawin (Okay, you don’t want it? Forget about it. Then he won’t do anything about it anymore).”
“So, kung manalo ‘yung admin (if the administration wins) in the Senate, then our expectation is after the SONA (State of the Nation Address), they will convene as a (constituent assembly), and then proceed with (charter change).” — Charmaine A. Tadalan, with Arjay L. Balinbin
