House Deputy Speaker Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte Jr. urged the Senate on Sunday to urgently pass three measures approved by the House of Representatives that would help Filipinos adapt to the “better normal” amid the increasing COVID-19 cases in the country.
(MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
He asked the senators to prioritize the approval of their counterpart measures to House Bill (HB) No. 6864, or the proposed "Better Normal for the Workplace, Communities, and Public Spaces Act of 2020,” HB 1248 or the E-Government bill, and House Bill No. 1297 or the proposed “Bangko sa Baryo Act.”
“Our senators could help Filipinos best adapt to the new world order by passing their own versions of these three House-approved measures, more so now when the World Health Organization (WHO) itself is bracing for a protracted pandemic and has called on countries to safeguard against what it called ‘a new and dangerous phase’ of the COVID-19 contagion,” Villafuerte, who co-authored the bills, said.
He said to counter the threats of coronavirus disease, they acted on the three measures before the Congress adjourned sine die last June 5 to let Filipinos live their lives safely, recognizing a vaccine is not expected to be developed yet for commercial production and sale.
“Hence, I am appealing to our senators to put these three measures on top of their concerns when the Second Regular Session of the 18th Congress opens this week,” the House leader said.
Villafuerte said the House approved on second reading HB No. 6864, which provides for new norms of social or physical distancing and safety measures in government and private offices, schools, commercial establishments and other public spaces.
“Under this better normal environment, contactless transactions through digital payments will be the norm, which we hope would speed up our transition to a digital economy, where even small entrepreneurs living in rural communities and far-flung areas have access to this new kind of payment system," Villafuerte said.
He said the once both houses of Congress approves the bill, the bill "will help President Duterte realize his goal of financial inclusion and improve the speed and efficiency of delivering social mitigation interventions, such as cash grants, to those who need them the most in times of crisis and calamities.”
Villafuerte noted that HB 1248 has hurdled the House Committee on Information and Communications Technology (ICT). HB 1248 seeks to interlink electronic or contactless services and processes in all government agencies and corporations “to ensure that the Philippines gets ahead of the curve in the new norm of continued social distancing and digital transactions.”
According to him, the E-government measure will “further improve the ease of doing business while encouraging people to keep practicing physical distancing in the better normal by letting them transact official business without actually having to go to the various government agencies themselves.”
Villafuerte said the House approved the proposed Bangko sa Baryo Act on second reading.
HB 1297 mandates the cash agents to assist in performing a broad range of bank services, including forwarding account opening applications, cash-in and cash-out services, and initial customer identity verification -- especially for anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism efforts, in remote barangays without banks.
Villafuerte has been seeking the passage of his proposed Bangko sa Baryo Act since 2017, citing that more than 36 percent of all municipalities in the country "have no banking presence."
He noted that new BSP guidelines and regulations now allow banks to deploy cash agents, especially in far-flung and unserved areas to deliver banking services.
“The Bangko sa Baryo Act endeavors to attain financial inclusion for the Filipino people and to establish robust financial consumer protection frameworks,” Villafuerte said.
“It shall increase citizen’s financial literacy and capability so they understand different financial services. Soon, an average barrio folk will be able to make sound financial decisions and put his hard-earned money to beneficial use,” he added.
The bill provides that cash agents who establish their operations in remote areas will enjoy various incentives such as waiver of government fees, free training for personnel and tax benefits, among others.