Villafuerte prods Senate to pass bill that will make gov't more eco-friendly
At A Glance
- Citing the need to achieve sustainable consumption, Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte has urged the Senate on Tuesday, Jan. 30, to give the green light to a bill that seeks to prioritize procurement of eco-friendly goods and services.
Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte (PPAB)
Citing the need to achieve sustainable consumption, Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte has urged the Senate on Tuesday, Jan. 30, to give the green light to a bill that seeks to prioritize procurement of eco-friendly goods and services.
The measure, known as the Green Public Procurement (GPP), allows the government to further promote eco-friendly practices “by tasking all offices in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government to give priority to the purchase or acquisition of ecologically friendlier goods and services".
Once enacted into law, it will require constitutional commissions, state universities and colleges (SUCs), government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs), government financial institutions (GFIs), and local government units (LGUs) to implement a GPP program to “achieve sustainable consumption and production in government procurement”.
“With public spending comprising almost a quarter of the Philippine national economy—and is likely to increase in the years ahead—all government purchases have an inevitable effect on the market supply of goods and services,” Villafuerte said in a statement.
Contained under House Bill (HB) No. 6488, the GPP proposal was unanimously passed by a vote of 232-0 with no abstention by the lower chamber.
The National Unity Party (NUP) president said the upper chamber must act on their version of the GPP to express its solidarity with the global campaign to achieve “circular economies”.
“Green public procurement may provide financial savings for government purchasers considering the full lifecycle costs of a procurement contract,” he noted.
Villafuerte explained that as a party to the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the 19th Congress’ adoption of the GPP will concretize the Philippines’ commitment to the UN goal of sustainable consumption and production.