NATIONAL Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said Congress has committed to pass the government’s remaining priority measures into law, many of which are economic measures, before the end of the 19th Congress, with high priority given to the bill creating the Department of Water Resources.
This developed as the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) said 11 of the 139 measures enacted this year are economic bills and which were endorsed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and identified by the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) as priority measures.
Balisacan said in the first priority list are bills amending the Right-of-Way Act, the Excise Tax on Single-Use Plastics, the Rationalization of the Mining Fiscal Regime, amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, amendments to the Foreign Investors’ Long-Term Lease Act, reforms to the Philippine Capital Markets, and the New Government Auditing Code.
Second priority bills, according to Balisacan, are the Blue Economy Act, amendments to the Universal Health Care Act, Open Access in Data Transmission Act, Waste-to-Energy Bill, Mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, Unified System of Separation, Retirement and Pension of Military and Uniformed Personnel, E-Government Act/E-Governance Act, amendments to the Agrarian Reform Law, and the Philippine Immigration Act.
The other bills endorsed by LEDAC are the Comprehensive Infrastructure Development Master Plan, National Disease Prevention Management Authority, Free Legal Assistance for Police and Soldiers, Eastern Visayas Development Authority, Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act, the National Land Use Act, and the Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers.
Also included are the Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery, Leyte Ecological Industrial Zone, enabling law for the natural gas industry, amendments to the Cooperative Code, Medical Reserve Corps or Health Emergency Auxiliary Reinforcement Team and the Virology Institute of the Philippines.
The other priority bills are the National Government Rightsizing Program, amendments to the Bank Deposits Secrecy Law, Budget Modernization Bill, National Defense Act and amendments to the Fisheries Code.
The PLLO said signed tax-related measures are Ease of Paying Taxes Act, Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act, the Value-Added Tax on Digital Services Law and the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy or CREATE MORE Act (RA 12066).
Other bills signed are the Anti-Financial Accounts Scamming Act, amendments to the Rice Tariffication Law, the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, the Tatak Pinoy Act and the Internet Transactions Act, the Philippine Salt Industry Development Act and the New Government Procurement Act.
