House passes bills to sustain growth, address climate change

MANILA, Philippines – Bills seeking to help sustain growth and lessen the effects of climate change in the country have been passed at the House of Representatives this year.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. congratulated his colleagues for the timely passage of the proposed P3.002-trillion General Appropriations Act for 2016, which has been the case for the past six years, making the late approval or reenacted budget a thing of the past.

“We have also enacted a number of game changing laws designed to further enhance the competitiveness of our economy and sustain the economic growth that has made the Philippines one of the best performers among the emerging economies,” he said.

Belmonte addressed lawmakers before the House adjourned on Wednesday night for the Christmas break.

Among the significant economic and security bills enacted into law are Republic Act 10667, the Philippine Competitiveness Act; RA 10668, amendments to the Cabotage Law; RA 10708, the Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act; RA 10659, the Sugarcane Industry Law; and RA 10697, Preventing the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction by Managing the Trade in Strategic Goods, the Provision of Related Services.

Belmonte said the House enacted specific legislation intended to create more employment opportunities, make professionals and workers more competitive and increase their take-home pay.

These include RA 10691, Defining the Role of the Department of Labor and Employment, the Local Government Units and Accredited Nongovernment Organizations in the Establishment and Operation of the Public Employment Service Office and Job Placement Offices; RA 10665, Establishing the Open High School System in the Philippines; RA 10679, Promoting Entrepreneurship and Financial Education Among Filipino Youth; RA 10693, Strengthening Nongovernment Organizations Engaged in Microfinance Operations for the Poor; and RA 10653, Adjusting the 13th Month Pay and Other Benefits Ceiling for Purposes of Income Taxation.

“We have also taken cognizance of the devastating effects of climate change and have adopted measures to improve the preparedness of our people and reduce, if not mitigate, the damage and casualties from natural disasters,” he said.

Belmonte said the House passed RA 10692, the PAGASA Modernization Law; and RA 10654, to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, Amending Fisheries Code of 1998.

The House also approved a number of laws designed to improve the justice system, aside from the numerous laws creating additional trial courts all over the country, including RA 10660, the Sandiganbayan Reform Act, he added.

Healthful ecology

The Catholic Church will help uphold the right to a healthful ecology, including the right to be protected against the adverse effects of global warning.

It is a human right that must be advocated and defended with the same determination as that of other human rights, Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan Socrates Villegas, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president, said in a statement.

“It is often the case that the poor pay the price for the prosperity of the rich,” he said

Villegas called on the Basic Ecclesial Communities to make local threats to the ecosystem and contributory causative factors to global warming and climate change a matter of community discernment.

The action in response to these threats must be a matter of community resolve, he added. 

Villegas said the Catholic Church will also oppose the opening of new coal-fired power plants and advocate  the denial of government permits and licenses to coal mines.  

“We call on our parishes, through our bishops and priests, to desist from those practices that aggravate an already precarious situation, such as the wasteful maintenance of so many unnecessary vehicles, the irresponsible use of electric power, the wastage of water, even otherwise laudable livelihood efforts that nevertheless pose a threat to the environment, such as the wasteful and destructive use of forest products,” he said.

Catholic bishops must urge scientists and technologists in their colleges, universities and schools, and those in Catholic institutions, to make the increased use of alternative energy sources a priority of research and development, he added.

Villegas urged government and scientists to keep the CBCP constantly informed “so that together we may find ways of doing what we can to transform the lofty aspirations of the Paris Conference into norms of everyday living for each Filipino.”

The CBCP is happy that men and women in government and zealous and well-informed academics and those from cause-oriented groups represented the Philippines in the climate change conference in Paris, France, he added.

It is their understanding at the CBCP that the Philippine delegation was called upon to lead the discussions of states rendered vulnerable by climate change, he said.

Villegas said it has become clear that care for the environment and resolute measures toward healing the planet are not only worthwhile engagements, but are in fact moral imperatives, demands made both on individuals as well as on communities and nations.

“Any act that results in the further depredation of the precarious balance of ecosystem, or that leaves a threatening carbon footprint, or that results in the diminution of biodiversity, is not only deplorable,” he said, but is morally objectionable and constitutes an offense against social justice. – With Eva Visperas