House sets out priority bills to help businesses—Belmonte

MANILA, Philippines—The House of Representatives is accelerating the approval of bills and the amendment of existing laws that will make the country’s business environment more attractive to investors.

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said that lawmakers have been fast-tracking amendments to the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law and the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) “to encourage private sector participation in public infrastructure projects.”

“Our amendatory laws are intended to equalize and make uniform the treatment of investors, promote transparency in the award of contracts, and predictability in the relations between the government and private investors,” he said in a speech before members of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry last week.

Belmonte said that as a prelude to the amendment of the Epira, Congress approved the extension of the life of the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC), which will be tasked to study the needs of the industry and recommend laws that will prevent a return to the crisis years of the 1990s.

Proposed amendments to the BOT Law, on the other hand, are now in the advanced stages of committee deliberations, according to Belmonte. The changes aim to remove the cloud of suspicion that often accompanied public-private dealings by making “competitive bidding the cornerstone in the award of contracts.”

Apart from these amendments, he said, Congress would likewise push the passage of new business-friendly laws, including the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives, Fiscal Responsibility Act and reformed valuation systems.

The Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, which has been approved on third reading, would modernize the Bureau of Customs and make procedures comply with those under the revised Kyoto Convention and other international standards.

“This should reduce the incidence of smuggling. Through this measure, we expect to attain an efficiency gain worth P110 billion,” Belmonte said.

The House also aims to step up the fight against corruption through amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act as well as the passage of the Whistleblower’s Act and the Freedom of Information Act.