Yearender: Time runs out for key House bills

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives was able to pass key reform measures this year, but the fate of some landmark bills – including the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and the resolution seeking to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution – remains uncertain, with only two months left in actual session work for the 16th Congress.

Among the significant economic and security bills passed by the House and enacted into law are Republic Act 10667 or the Philippine Competitiveness Act; RA 10668 or amendments to the Cabotage Law; RA 10708 or the Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act; RA 10659 or 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.

Faced with issues to combat the effects of climate change, the chamber also enacted measures to improve the preparedness of the people to reduce damage and casualties from natural disasters, such as RA 10692 or the PAGASA Modernization Law and RA 10654, to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, Amending the Fisheries Code of 1998.

With the aim of creating more employment opportunities, make Filipino professionals and workers more competitive and increase their take-home pay, the House enacted 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.

The chamber 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 or the Sandiganbayan Reform Act.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the House was focused on quality and responsive legislation rather than quantity in the 16th Congress.

“This is not how many legislation we’ve passed. We just did what was needed by our people,” Belmonte told reporters before adjourning session for the Christmas break last Dec. 16.

“We have been mindful of the demands and imperatives of our time as we have supported competitiveness-raising, job generation and more sustainable development through the policies we have enacted,” he said.

“We have a lot to be thankful for. I know that there were challenges during this year but I would like to believe that the year’s positive developments outweighed them,” he added.

He said the 16th Congress has established a “new norm” in the enactment of the annual General Appropriations Act on time to allow the government to operate on a new budget at the start of the year.

The timely enactment of the annual budget, he said, is a significant component in the improvement of public financial management and the country’s macroeconomic environment that has resulted in the upgrade of its credit rating and competitiveness ranking.

“The next government and succeeding congresses will have no more excuses for failing to pass the budget on time, so that re-enacted budgets will truly be a thing of the past,” Belmonte said.

He said the House is also fully aware of the need for Congress to prepare the country for the integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and that it will continue pursuing the passage of economic measures.

Bills still pending

Despite the approval of numerous reform measures, critics were quick to point out that the House has failed to act on landmark legislation like the FOI Bill, Anti-Political Dynasty Bill, the BBL and RBH 1.

Obstacles to the passage of these measures are mostly due to either lack of support from President Aquino or lawmakers, or both. The lack of quorum in recent months owing to the 2016 election fever also contributed the chamber’s inaction on the bills.

Lack of time also dims the prospects of the bills. Congress will resume session on Jan. 19 but adjourn on Feb. 5 to give way to the 2016 electoral campaign.

It will resume session on May 23 but a significant chunk of its work will be on canvassing of votes. The 16th Congress will finally adjourn on June 10.

Malacañang was supposed to turn over the draft BBL to the House in May 2014 but Aquino submitted it only the following September. The chamber’s leadership was optimistic that it could pass it by March this year but because of the Jan. 25 Mamasapano incident, support for the measure in the House as well as from the general public was greatly dampened.

The House committees on public order, safety and peace, unity and reconciliation, also conducted an inquiry into the Mamasapano incident but the first hearing was so rowdy that the chamber earned the ire of the public.

The panels wrapped up hearings last April but they have yet to release a committee report. Lawmakers also pooled their salaries for the families of the 44 Special Action Force commandos killed during the incident.

The House ended two weeks ago plenary debates on the BBL, now titled the proposed Basic Law of the Bangsamoro Region (BLBAR) with the hope of approving it on second reading when Congress resumes session in January.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chairman of the ad hoc committee on the BLBAR, said the title was changed while over 50 unconstitutional provisions were excised from the bill to make it acceptable to lawmakers, the Supreme Court – where it is expected to be questioned – and the general public.

The passage of the FOI Bill was a campaign promise of Aquino in 2010 and over 20 versions were promptly filed by pro-administration and opposition lawmakers.

The measure was approved by the House committee on public information last May but it has yet to be taken up in plenary.

Authors of the consolidated FOI Bill point to some of their colleagues who want to include right of reply provisions, as well as Aquino reneging on his promise to push for the transparency measure as causing the delay. The right of reply provision, which mandates guaranteed space in news for rebuttals, is strongly opposed by anti-corruption and news organizations.

The prospects of the passage of Anti-Political Dynasty Bill, which has been languishing in Congress for over two decades, also remain dim due to opposition from lawmakers who belong to political clans.

The House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms was set to approve the measure and endorse it for second reading approval in plenary but many congressmen wanted to relax the limitations set by the bill.

Under the present version, only two members of a political family would be allowed to occupy elective offices at the same time. All other relatives would be banned from running in an election, whether national or local, as long as the two are in office.

However, congressmen who belong to political dynasties want the proposed restriction eased to allow more family members to seek office in other districts, provinces, cities or towns far from the incumbents’ influence.

Authors of the bill said the original version would adversely affect at least 150 or more than half of the 287-member House.

RBH 1, principally authored by Belmonte, seeks to allow 100 percent foreign ownership of certain industries to generate investments and create jobs. It proposed to include the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” in the economic provisions, which means the restrictions remain unless Congress enacts laws to change them.

RBH 1 was on the verge of approval on third and final reading last June after the chamber was able to muster a rare large quorum or more than two-thirds of the members of the House needed to approve it.

However, Aquino intervened at the last minute and administration lawmakers proposed some amendments, which Belmonte believed was tantamount to delaying it.

“There’s no time to be arguing with them, I had to make a decision and I did… and there were also some movements by other (blocs), I felt things were now uncertain,” Belmonte told reporters.

The measure seeking to strengthen and institutionalize the public-private partnership (PPP) program was passed at the committee level and is set to be endorsed for plenary approval.

Aquino certified the PPP Bill as urgent last Dec. 16 so prospects for its passage and enactment into law are favorable.

The much-awaited proposal to reduce individual income taxes enjoyed the support of a majority of House members but Malacañang had exerted strong pressure to keep the measure from getting to plenary approval.

Reasserting the power of the purse

The House also moved this year to reassert its power over the purse and slammed budgetary policies of Malacañang that it said “threaten the independence” of Congress as a co-equal branch of government.

Belmonte, committee on accounts chairman Eleandro Jesus Madrona, Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II and Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora led the filing of House Concurrent Resolution No. 10, which was “affirming, ensuring and operationalizing the fiscal independence of the Congress of the Philippines.”

“The present budgetary policies formulated by the executive, through the Department of Budget and Management, insofar as they apply to the Congress of the Philippines, threaten its independence, encroach on its exclusive domain and violate the principle of separation of powers, upon which the entire fabric of our constitutional system is based,” House leaders said.

The lawmakers said there were numerous instances where the DBM would actually reduce the budgets of both the House and the Senate, and withhold the release of savings of the two chambers.

They stressed the legislative power vested in the Congress of the Philippines is plenary, complete, unimpaired and subject only to such limitations as are found in the Constitution.

‘Emergency powers’

The chamber also managed to resist pressure from Malacañang to grant Aquino emergency powers ostensibly to address a looming power shortage in the summer months.

The committee on energy, chaired by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, held several public hearings to determine the actual power available and demand during the peak months. It found out that there is enough supply available.

The House instead pushed for the implementation of the interruptible load program (ILP) that allowed the government to shut down large power users if needed during peak demand.

This year also saw the chamber participating in the government’s efforts to defend the country against Chinese encroachment in the West Philippine Sea.

Belmonte joined the Philippine delegation that participated in the first oral arguments before the Arbitral Tribunal in The Hague to defend the case against China.

Other lawmakers also joined subsequent hearings of the tribunal.