THE leadership of the House of Representatives is eyeing to approve today (Monday) the joint resolution extending the availability of the 2019 General Appropriations Act and the bill postponing the May 2020 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
Majority Leader Martin Romualdez said these two measures are already included in the calendar of business for third and final reading on Monday.
House Joint Resolution 19 seeks to extend the availability of the 2019 appropriations for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) and capital outlays (CO) to December 31, 2020.
The resolution amends Section 65 of the General Appropriations Act of Fiscal Year 2019, which provides that all appropriations shall be available for release and obligation until December 31, 2019.
House Committee on Appropriations Senior Vice Chairman Joey Salceda of Albay said the 2019 national budget has to be extended owing to several factors, including the delayed approval of the budget in April 2019, onset of the election ban for the May 2019 elections and the restrictions imposed by cash-based budgeting.
According to Salceda, the budget delay resulted in a five-month implementation gap for projects.
Poll postponement
Moreover, House Bill 493 seeks to postpone the 2020 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections from May 2020 to May 8, 2023. If approved, this will be the third time the barangay and SK elections will be postponed under the Duterte administration. The elections had been previously set in October 2016, but postponed to October 2017 and then to May 2018.
During his Fourth State of the Nation Address (Sona) in July, President Duterte urged lawmakers to pass a bill postponing the May 2020 barangay and SK polls to give elected officials time to complete their programs and projects.
Romualdez said the lower chamber will also work double time to approve in the plenary the pending joint resolution that authorizes the use of the rice subsidy as provided in the P3.757-trillion national budget of 2019 for the purchase of palay (unhusked rice) from farmers.
House Commitee on Agriculture and Food Chairman Wilfrido Mark Enverga said the unnumbered joint resolution will be transmitted to the plenary when session resumes on November 4. Enverga also said his committee will ask President Duterte to certify the joint resolution as urgent.
The joint resolution urged the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of National Defense, Department of Transportation, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, in coordination with the National Food Authority and the Department of Agriculture, to directly buy back palay of the local farmers for the Rice Subsidy Program instead of cash.
Other priorities
Meanwhile, Romualdez said other economic bills that needed swift action from the House include the real property valuation reform bill, amendments to the Public Service Act amendment, a measure raising the Motor Vehicle Road User’s Tax, as well as the proposals to create a Department of Water, Department of Filipino Overseas (DFO) and Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR).
House Committee on Government Reorganization Chairman Mario Vittorio Mariño, sponsor of Package 3 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP), or HB 4664 or real property valuation reform bill, said the proposal will institute reforms in the country’s real-property valuation.
Currently, the bill is pending for second-reading approval.
“The reform will broaden the tax base for local and national property and property-related taxes, and expedite valuation-based government activities, such as right-of-way acquisition and administration of land transfer taxes. This will neither impose new taxes nor current tax rates since the local government units (LGUs) will continue to set, adjust, and regulate tax rates and assessment levels,” Mariño said.
Pending approval of the measure amending the Public Service Act (PSA), the head of the Economic Affairs Committee, Rep. Sharon Garin, has assured the public that safeguards are well in place under the measure, which seeks to allow new players to invest in the Philippines.
Garin also dispelled fears posed by the expected influx of foreign investors.
HB 78 aims to amend the antiquated PSA by providing a clear distinction between public service and public utility. Under the bill, public utilities will only cover the following: distribution of electricity; transmission of electricity; water pipeline distribution system; and sewerage pipeline system.
HB 78 is currently under the period of sponsorship and debate. As the main sponsor of the measure, Garin said she will continue to defend the bill when sessions resume on November 4.
Meanwhile, Ways and Means Panel Chairman Salceda said the proposal increasing the Motor Vehicle Road Users’ Tax (MVRUT) could provide P89.36 billion in additional government revenues in five years.
Salceda said his HB 4695 is expected to yield additional government revenues of P8.12 billion in 2020, P9.62 billion in 2021, P10.57 billion in 2022, P28.44 billion in 2023 and P32.61 billion in 2024. These will directly go to the Universal Health Care (UHC) and the Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) Modernization Program.
According to Salceda, the existing MVUC rates have not been adjusted since 2004. The bill is pending before the ways and means committee.
On the creation of new offices, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said House will focus on the passage of the Department of Water, DFO and DDR.
Cayetano said the target is to approve the bills creating these agencies before the year ends.
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