Senate Urged To Pass Economic Reform Bills

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III urged senators Wednesday to help guarantee the Philippines’ “strong economic rebound” from the lingering pandemic by swiftly approving the Duterte administration’s remaining economic reform measures aimed at attracting more foreign direct investments (FDIs), deepening the capital markets and further making the tax system simpler, fairer and more efficient.

Photo Insert: The Department of Finance

“In the remaining period of the President’s term, we will rapidly modernize governance, continue our public investments, and pursue market-friendly reforms to achieve a strong economic rebound,” Dominguez told the Senate finance committee in a 2022 budget briefing by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).

These reforms include the amendatory bills to the Foreign Investments Act (FIA) and Public Service Act (PSA) to enable the economy to attract more FDIs and ensure long-term growth.

Dominguez also pushed the approval of the Real Property Valuation Reform Act and the Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act (PIFITA), which are the remaining Packages 3 and 4, respectively, of the Duterte administration’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP).

He said these legislative measures will help achieve a “strong economic rebound” from the pandemic, along with the congressional passage of the Capital Market Development Act (CMDA) of 2021 to further deepen the domestic capital markets by building a sustainable and portable corporate pension system for the Filipino people.

Another investment-friendly measure endorsed earlier by the Finance Secretary and Malacanang–the proposed amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act (RTLA)—has already been passed on third and final reading by both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The RTLA is pending in the bicameral conference committee.

The House has likewise passed the bills proposing amendments to the PSA and FIA; Packages 3 and 4 of the CTRP, and the CDMA. These bills are pending in the Senate.

The Senate finance committee chaired by Senator Juan Edgardo Angara began its deliberations on the proposed P5.024 trillion national budget for 2022 this morning with a budget briefing by the DBCC, of which Dominguez is a member.

Dominguez said the government will also maintain the spending for the “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program at above 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to generate multiplier effects for the economy, such as creating more jobs and business opportunities.

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