House of Representatives (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

The CREATE MORE bill--which seeks to make the country's tax regime both compliant with the minimum global tax and at the same time remain competitive--is now just President Marcos' signature away from becoming a law.

This, after both chambers of Congress ratififed the committee report of the measure, also known as the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy bill.

The House of Representatives ratified CREATE MORE as embodied in House Bill (HB) No. 9794 at past 8 p.m. during plenary session Tuesday. The other legislative chamber, the Senate, ratified its version, Senate Bill (SB) No. 2762 minutes earlier.

The measure will be forwarded to Malacañang for President's signature.

Perhaps none is more upbeat about the impending enactment of CREATE MORE than Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda, the prime mover of the bill in the 300-plus strong House.

"CREATE MORE builds on the progress achieved by the CREATE Act and responds to emerging developments in the global economy,” said Salceda, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations.

“It’s also a big win for manufacturing. We solve their VAT (value-added tax) issues, which cost some 120,000 jobs over the past three years. We also address the country’s high power cost with the additional or enhanced deduction on power cost, basically making power cheaper by around P3 per kwh (kilowatt hour) for manufacturing,” he said.

The economist-solon also said the global environment has "changed rapidly since the enactment of CREATE, particularly in three key areas".

He identified these as the rapid decline of China as the global manufacturing hub, the introduction of the global minimum corporate tax, and the increase in global commodity prices particularly fuel due to ongoing world conflicts.

"In this regard, we cannot afford to bungle our tax treatment of investors,” Salceda said.

“That is why any ambiguity in the CREATE Law that has led to misinterpretations either in the IRR (implementing rules and regulations) or in the application of the law must be resolved. The VAT regime must be simple, clear, and transaction-based. The incentives regime under the CREATE transition period must be without any ambiguity. And the VAT refund system must work.”

Salceda further said: “Our tax incentive approval mechanism must also be agile – while maintaining the government’s oversight of the process. That is why the power to grant incentives is being reverted to the Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) but the FIRB’s (Fiscal Incentives Review Board) policymaking and oversight functions are being maintained.

Salceda says he hopes that President Marcos will sign the measure “soon given his own certification of urgency on the matter".

“It sustains the President’s very strong pro-investment record, and could cement his legacy as the President who fixed manufacturing,” he said.