The leaders of House of Representatives and the Senate will meet first before approving controversial measures filed in the 17th Congress, according to House majority leader Rodolfo Fariñas.
Fariñas said the proposed tax-reform package, bills on the revival of the death penalty and anticrime measures and the proposed Charter change have been tabled for discussion.
Congress is set to resume session on Monday after a monthlong Christmas break.
“Those will be matters that we will take up with our Senate counterparts in our next meeting soon,” said Fariñas, referring to the revised comprehensive tax-reform package submitted by the Department of Finance (DOF) to Congress.
The comprehensive tax-reform package seeks to lower personal income-tax (PIT) rates and impose additional taxes on certain commodities.
Earlier, House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman and PDP-Laban Rep. Dakila Carlo Cua of Quirino said the lower chamber will pass the tax-reform measure by June to help the government finance the 2018 national budget.
The proposed tax-reform package could cause the government to lose around P200 billion annually, but the amendments are expected to beef up its revenues by P566 billion.
Cua noted only workers with a monthly salary of P20,833, or P250,000 annually, will be exempted from PIT under the new DOF proposal.
This runs counter against the proposal of President Duterte and lawmakers, who want the DOF to exempt workers earning P25,000 monthly, or P300,000 annually, and below from PIT.
Currently, those earning P10,000 or less a month pay a 5-percent income tax, while those with yearly earnings of P500,000 and above pay a 32-percent income tax.
Also, the lawmaker said the DOF retained its original proposal of removing the VAT exemption for senior citizens and persons with disabilities as a way to offset the losses that the government may incur from the tax-reform package. Another offsetting measure is the scrapping of ad valorem tax on automobiles.
Death-penalty revival
According to Fariñas, the debates on the death-penalty bill will begin this month.
“[But like the tax-reform proposal] we will [also] first discuss that [death- penalty bill] with our Senate counterparts,” he said.
Earlier, Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez said the debates on the death-penalty bill and other anti-crime measures are the top agenda of the lower chamber when session resumes. Alvarez is the principal author of the death-penalty bill.
For his part, Liberal Party Rep. Edcel Lagman, one of the leaders of “Magnificent 7”, or the genuine minority bloc, said his group will fight the death-penalty bill.
He said there is now a growing support among members of the House of Representatives and civil-society groups against the capital punishment.
Under the death-penalty bill, crimes, which are punishable by death through hanging, firing squad or lethal injection include treason, qualified piracy, qualified bribery, parricide, murder infanticide, rape and the distribution and transportation of dangerous drugs and or controlled precursors and essential chemicals.
But Alvarez said the lower chamber may change the scope of the death- penalty bill, as they may focus only on drug-related crimes.
“I am anticipating a long arduous hours of debate but, I welcome it so that no issues are left untouched,” said Deputy Speaker and Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro.
Castro said the measure could be passed on third and final reading by the end of February.
The death-penalty law was abolished in 1986 but it was restored by former President Fidel V. Ramos in 1993. It was suspended again in 2006 by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Charter change
Also, Fariñas said the leadership of the lower chamber will continue consulting the senators on the proposed Charter change (Cha-cha).
Earlier, Duterte signed Executive Order 10, creating a committee that will review the Constitution. The committee will be composed of 25 different experts from the country.
The committee will help Congress, acting as constituent assembly, in amending the present Constitution to change the present unitary form of government to a federal system.
Alvarez said the lower chamber may also start tackling Cha-cha this year.
He said free and open public debates on the issue of constitutional reforms, especially on federalism, must be encouraged before Congress decides on whether to adopt a federal system.