ALBAY 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda, also chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means, is an economist and therefore among members of the 20th Congress, he is expected to be most cooperative and understanding when it comes to working with fellow economists at the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).
Congressman Salceda, however, cannot help but call out NEDA for being almost three weeks late in submitting the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the amendments to the Public Service Act (PSA) or Republic Act (RA) 11659.
‘The congressman called the undue delay in coming out with the IRR
as a “self-inflicted wound,” coming as it does now that global conditions are hurting our FDIs.’
“The deadline was six months after the effectivity of the Public Service Act. That deadline lapsed two weeks ago. Where’s the IRR?” Salceda asked on October 19. Former President Duterte signed RA 11659 into law on March 21.
The congressman called the undue delay in coming out with the IRR as a “self-inflicted wound,” coming as it does now that global conditions are hurting our FDIs.
The measure reclassified the following as public services — telecommunications, railways, expressways, airports, and shipping industries. This means that foreign investors can have 100 percent ownership or equity in these industries.
Meanwhile, the following industries were classified as public utilities, and were thus subject to a 40 percent foreign ownership cap: distribution of electricity, transmission of electricity, petroleum and petroleum products pipeline transmission systems, water pipeline distribution systems and wastewater pipeline systems, including sewerage pipeline systems, seaports, and public utility vehicles.
On the part of the Senate, Sen. Grace Poe must be unhappy too for the actual delay in NEDA’s final crafting of the IRR. Both Poe and Salceda are principal authors of the law.
The lawmakers have all the reason to be disappointed with NEDA’s slow action, considering that, according to them, the draft of the IRR was already more or less complete before the Duterte administration ended.
