SUMMING up the economic measures passed under the 16th Congress to make the country more competitive, Senate President Franklin Drilon said on Monday that the Senate had passed several measures to stimulate the economy and attract foreign investments, thus, creating more jobs.
In his speech during the opening of the third and last regular session of the 16th Congress, Drilon said that last week, President Aquino signed the Philippine Competition Act, which took more than 20 years for Congress to enact an antitrust law.
“We now finally have a competition policy that outlaws and penalizes anticompetitive agreements, abuse of dominant position, and anticompetitive mergers and acquisitions.”
The Senate also enacted the Revised Insurance Code, which imposed more stringent capitalization requirements to strengthen the insurance industry and make it more resilient to shocks.
He said that in 2013 the President asked Congress to “amend the cabotage law in order to foster greater competition and to lower the cost of transportation for our agricultural sector and other industries.”
The Senate responded by amending the cabotage law to achieve these goals, according to Drilon, who added that the Senate also legislated the full entry of foreign banks by allowing them to acquire and invest up to 100 percent of the voting stock of a domestic bank.
“We also enacted a law that allowed foreign investors to own 60 percent of the voting stock in rural banks,” he added
“To boost our tourism industry, we exempted foreign carriers from paying, on a reciprocity basis, the common carrier’s and value-added tax for the transport of passengers,” Drilon said.
With barely a year left before the 2016 elections, Drilon enjoined his colleagues “to set aside political interests and instead focus their time and resources on thinking of solutions to the nation’s pressing problems.”
In the months leading up to the next elections, however, Drilon said that the challenge for him and his colleagues in the Senate is to enact laws that will ensure the continuity of these reforms.
“The challenge that is thrown to us and to the people who will be elected in 2016, is to ensure the continuity of these reforms,” Drilon said.
“We are racing against time. Let us remind ourselves that we are here to serve the people, and not special interest groups,” he said.
“We must ensure a bright and promising future for the younger generation and the generations yet unborn,” he added.
The Senate chief said that while the Senate has posted a strong legislative performance in the past five years, he believes that more needs be done to propel the nation to greater economic, political and social heights.
“Since the beginning of the Aquino administration, we have worked hard to institute reforms needed to improve the economy, create a stable political environment and improve our social infrastructure.”
“But let us walk a mile more,” he stressed, enumerating a set of legislation to be prioritized in the last session.
Drilon then vowed that the Senate will make use of its remaining time to pass even more laws that will uplift the lives of Filipinos and improve governance.
According to the Senate chief, among the priority bills the Senate will examine the 2016 national budget, to ensure the steady flow of funding to vital government programs and services.
Drilon said that they will “scrutinize every fact and examine every figure in the proposed 2016 General Appropriations Act,” and assured the public that he will “see to it that the pork-barrel system is a thing of the past.”
The Senate, Drilon said, will also continue to “promote lasting peace and sustainable development in Mindanao through a Bangsamoro basic law that is fully consistent with our Constitution.”
On the economic front, Drilon said the Senate will address the gaps in the policy environment for public and private partnerships through the proposed build-operate-transfer law and the law on acquisition of right-of-way.
It will also work on the passage into law of the Customs and Tariff Modernization Act and the Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act, to enhance trade and commerce.
The Senate leader added that they will also be giving focus on the improvement of public services, through the bill creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology to enhance the country’s communication services, and the proposed Pagasa Modernization Act, which seeks to equip the state weather bureau with state-of-the-art facilities and technology.
Drilon underscored that it is crucial for the Senate to sustain its strong legislative performance throughout the last five years, noting the passage of many landmark and much-needed bills that have been passed into law within the present administration.
He said the Senate also fulfilled its pro-education agenda with the passage of the Enhanced Basic Education Act, the Iskolar ng Bayan Act, the Ladderized Education Act, the Open Learning and Distance Education Act, and the law authorizing the Open High School System.
Other key pieces of legislation passed by the Senate are the Maritime Industry Authority law, which saved the livelihood of more than 80,000 seafarers; the amendments to the Fisheries Code; and the law which raised the tax-exemption ceiling for 13th-month pay and other benefits from P30,000 up to P82,000.
With PNA