THE second tax reform package is not likely to pass before the 17th Congress ends on June 7, with Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III saying that the chamber has other priorities and signalled an unwillingness to compromise on its version of the legislation.
Mr. Sotto said on Wednesday that the tax reform package, which will cut corporate income tax and streamline fiscal incentives, is more likely to move forward if the Senate version is followed.
“If you are talking about the version that has been broadcast talagang mahihirapan (it will be difficult). The Senate version has a chance. But if it does not make it by June, then we will just have to refile it in July,” he said in a briefing.
He identified 14 priority measures the Senate intends to pass in the third regular session, which did not include Package 2 of the tax reform program, initiated in the House as House Bill No. 8083, or the Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-quality Opportunities” (TRABAHO) bill.
Asked for comment, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said in a Viber message that he hopes to hold discussions with the Senate on a timetable for passing the bill.
The House has approved its version of TRABAHO on third reading; while its counterpart measure, Senate Bill No. 1906, the Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Reform Act, is pending before the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.
Mr. Sotto later clarified that while he does not rule the possibility of the bill’s passage, he will push for other bills in the remaining days of the 17th Congress.
“What I will push for personally are the Medical Scholarship bill, the Human Security Act, and the UHC (Universal Health Care) Act and Public Services Act.”
The Senate is currently deliberating priority measures like amendments to the Human Security Act; the Medical Scholarship bill; amendments to the Public Service Act; Enhanced Universal Health Care legislation; Unified Uniformed Personnel Retirement Benefits and Pension Reform legislation; and bills reforming the budget process, the national government’s staffing levels, outlining the use of the coconut levy fund, among others.
Mr. Sotto said he is positive the priority measures will be passed, considering the Senate’s performance from June to October, which resulted in the enactment of 32 bills.
“If we were able to do this from June to October, I am confident that the priority measures we listed here will be able to see the light of day, hopefully before February, before the end of session by the second week of February,” he said.
Congress is set to go on break between Feb. 8 and May 20 to allow for the campaign period ahead of the mid-term election on May 13.
In the same briefing, Mr. Sotto disclosed the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) has not yet reconvened.
“There was one scheduled but the House cancelled,” he said. — Charmaine A. Tadalan
