‘’We are on it.’’
This was the reaction of Senate President Vicente C. Sotto to calls by business groups and foreign chambers of commerce for the Senate and the House of Representatives to pass urgent bills on post-pandemic recovery during the remaining session days of the 18th Congress.
These groups were led by the American Chamber of Commerce and the Makati Business Club.
Most of the eleven reform bills listed by these groups have reached advanced stages in either chamber of Congress and only require counterpart action in the other chamber.
In a related development, Sotto, a vice presidential candidate in tandem with Partido Reporma standard bearer Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, had a forum last night with members of the Diplomatic Corps, mostly members of the European Union.
’’The discussion more or less floated around the laws pending now and also the laws we have passed before,’’ he told Senate reporters in a zoom media forum.
The Senate chief said he and Lacson explained to them the pending bills and current laws as the country has been financially crippled by the negative effects of COVID-19 pandemic.
Sotto emphasized that lawmakers are the better implementers of the laws they authored while in Congress.
The business groups and chambers also expressed optimism for the early ratification of the reconciled versions of three bills under several bicameral conference committees:
Electric Vehicles and Charging Stations Act
Foreign Investment Act amendments
National Transportation Safety Board creation.
And, most importantly, the signatories to the letter recommended to the leadership to completepassage of the following bills during the remaining session weeks of Congress to address postpandemic economic recovery:
1. Amendments to the Public Service Act
2. Department of Water Resources Management
3. Ease of Paying Taxes bill
4. Freedom of Information
5. Open Access in Data Transmission
6. Philippine Creative Industries
7. Promotion of Digital Payments
8. Rural Agricultural and Fisheries Development Financing System Act
9. Secrecy of Bank Deposits Law amendments
10. Tax Reform Package 3: Property Valuation and Assessment Reform
11. Tax Reform Package 4: Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation
While supporting the amendments to the Public Service Act, the business groups and foreign
chambers expressed opposition to the inclusion of any provision in the pending Senate version,
SB 2094, that expands the legislative franchise requirement to public services beyond those provided under existing laws.