Congress urged to focus on priority bills

Instead of coming out with more bills, Congress should focus on priority bills, as identified in the Philippine Development Plan and recommended by the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) and key sectors of the economy, the Joint Foreign Chambers and Makati Business Club said.

Makati Business Club executive director Peter Angelo Perfecto said there was still a significant number of pending bills that the 15th Congress needed to pass during the remaining two years of its three-year term, so it was just logical for the lawmakers to focus their attention on bills that had already been written.

“We hope Congress can just focus on the priority bills in the Ledac (list) instead of just bringing up new bills,” Perfecto said. “They really should give priority to bills under the PDP and recommended by the JFC and other business and industry groups.”

In a letter to President Aquino almost a year ago, the JFC named 41 bills that the 15th Congress should focus on passing within its term. Of these, three have been enacted into law: the Financial Rehabilitation and Insolvency Act, GOCC Governance Act, and Repeal of Nightwork Prohibition for Women.

The other bills that the JFC recommended were now on different stages in the process. Eight had already been approved on third reading at the House of Representatives and were awaiting Senate action.

American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines senior adviser John Forbes said this Congress had less than two years to pass pending bills, as no bills were usually passed during the last six months before the next election.

While saying that all of the JFC’s recommended bills should be made a priority, he stressed that those that should be higher up on the list included the Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives and Fair Competition or Anti-Trust Law.

“The Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives has been proposed in many past Congresses, but has never passed. This time, it has already been approved on third reading at the House, so it should be close to passing in this Congress,” he said. “The Anti-Trust Law is also important as the Philippines is just one of the few countries in Asean that don’t have one.”

Perfecto echoed Forbes’ sentiments about the Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives and the Anti-Trust Law, adding that the Freedom of Information Bill and Whistle Blowers Protection Act should also be made a priority.

The Data Privacy Act and the creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology were also tagged as urgent by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines.

The Philippine Exporters Confederation placed particular emphasis on the Customs Modernization and Tariffs Act and the Anti-Smuggling Act.