Bills that Duterte asked Congress to pass in 4th SONA

MANILA, Philippines — Part of the president's yearly State of the Nation Address before Congress is his laying down of the legislative priorities and President Rodrigo Duterte's on Monday began with a request to Congress to "reinstate the death penalty for heinous crimes related to drugs, as well as plunder."

Unlike in previous SONAs, Duterte did not mention amending the 1987 Constitution for a shift to a federal form of government—a campaign promise and a recurring theme in his speeches.

Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez had urged the House to replace the constitution hours before he lost leadership of the lower chamber to Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who managed to pass a draft constitution on third and final reading.

The proposal did not fly at the Senate, though, and with a seeming lack of public support or even awareness of plans for federalism, Duterte said that he would be fine with just charter change. He mentioned neither on Monday, the first day of the 18th Congress.

Aside from the death penalty, which allies in Congress — including Sens. Manny Pacquiao, Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, and Christopher "Bong" Go — are likely to support, Duterte also called for passage of bills that had been pending even in the 17th Congress.

Postponement of barangay, SK polls

The president said that the village polls—previously moved from October 2016 to October 2017—should be moved from May 2020 to October 22 "rectify the truncated terms" that were caused by the postponement. He said the longer terms for barangay officials would "also provide them with the ample time to finish their programs and projects."

Magna Carta for Barangays

The president also said that a Magna Carta for Barangays should also be passed.

Sen. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III filed a similar bill in the 17th Congress, which would have made barangay officials "regular government employees with fixed salaries, allowances, insurance, medical and dental coverage, retirement benefits, and other fringe benefits to which a regular government employee is entitled."

The bill also proposed the automatic release of the barangay's share from national taxes and the transfer of funds to the barangay "for maintenance of roads and
bridges within its area of jurisdiction." The bill also proposed giving priority to barangay residents for employment in infrastructure projects in the village.

"As the basic political unit, the importance of barangays in our system of government cannot be overemphasized," Pimentel said in his explanatory note on the bill.

National Land Use Bill 

Duterte again called for passage of a National Land Use Bill as he did in his third SONA, where he used Boracay island as an example of "the need to rationalize [in a] holistic, sustainable manner, the utilization, management and development of our lands."

A year later, Duterte trumpeted Boracay's rehabilitation as an accomplishment of his administration but the bill had hardly moved at the Senate and the bill will have to go through the legislative mill again.

At last year's SONA, the House of Representatives has already passed its version of the bill but a Senate counterpart measure had been pending since July 2017.

The bill, if passed into law, would have the national and local governments "determine the specific uses of land and other physical resources" in the country.

Among the provisions of the House version was the full protection from conversion to other purposes of "irrigable lands, all lands developed or possessing the potential for development of high value crops, and all agricultural lands that are ecologically fragile and whose conversion will result in serious environmental problems."

Tax reforms

Duterte also called on Congress to pass the second package of the admnisttration's tax reform measures. The Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-quality Opportunities, or TRABAHO, bill is the next installment to the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law, also called the TRAIN Law.

TRAIN lowered income tax rates but imposed higher excise taxes on fuel. TRABAHO aims to lower the corporate income tax from 30% to 20% over a period of 10 years while also streamlining fiscal incentives for investors.

Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Lambino said this week that three or four bills have been filed at the House of Representatives that are similar to the Finance department's proposal. He said, though, that the department still needs to study the bills to see which version it will back.

Duterte said Monday that the measure would "would energize our [Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises] and encourage them to expand their business and hopefully generate … 104 million jobs in the coming years." He said the small business have the potential to "raise the lot of the Filipinos."

The president also called for higher excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products, or so-called "sin" products. The taxes are meant to consumption of the products and also fund health programs. 

Department of Overseas Filipino Workers

Duterte had previously talked about putting up a Department of Overseas Filipino Workers that would regulate the recruitment and deployment of migrant workers abroad.

"So, under the supervision of government at [with no] horrendous charges," the president said earlier in July

Sen. Go proposed the creation of a Department of Overseas Filipinos that would handle the needs of Filipinos abroad. The proposed new department would handle the tasks currently being done by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Department of Foreign Affairs-Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas and the International Labor Affairs Bureau.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Belo III is quoted in a Sun.Star report as being surprised at the new direction of the government. 

"It was the position of the Cabinet that there shouldn't be one because, in a way, you are institutionalizing overseas employment, which is contrary to the president's final goal of repatriating our overseas workers," he reportedly said.

He said, though, that the president suddenly brought it up. "All I could say was 'Mr. President, you are the boss'," he said.

Department of Disaster Resilience

In his SONA in 2018, Duterte also batted for the creation of the new department, saying "we need a truly empowered department characterized by a unity of command, science-based approach and full-time focus on natural hazards and disasters, and the wherewithal to take charge of the disaster risk reduction; preparedness and response; with better recovery and faster rehabilitation."

In his SONA on Monday, Duterte said government reforms "would be for naught if we cannot avert [the creation] of a 'new poor' every time a disaster strikes."

"The Philippine experience has shown that natural disasters are poverty creators," he also said.

Go has already filed a bill to create "an empowered, highly specialized department with clear unity of command and primarily responsible in ensuring safe, adaptive and disaster-resilient communities."

Department of Water Resources

Recalling the widespread water shortage that hit Metro Manila and parts of Rizal in March, Duterte called for the creation of a Department of Water Resources and a Water Regulatory Commission.

"Alam mo, the agencies and the guys there handling the — the entire water works system — you have to change it immediately.

Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV filed a bill proposing a Department of Water, Irrigation, Sewage and Sanitation Resource Management in the 17th Congress that would "rationalize water, irrigation, sewage, and sanitation resource management, including water rights."

He said then that the existence of separate agencies to manage water, irrigation, sewage and sanitation management presented a challenge "in terms of implementing national policies and plans on water, sewage, sanitation, and irrigation."

Aquino was not reelected to the Senate in the May polls.

Sen. Lito Lapid has filed Senate Bill No. 52 , which seeks to create the Water Resources Authority of the Philippines.

Fire Protection Modernization Program

Duterte said that Davao City has its own 911 emergency service, but also said that the country lacks a modern fire protection service.

"[Y]ou would notice in your cities and provinces the deterioration of the service itself. Wala ng mga truck, luma na. And would you believe it in Davao City, I'll show it to you, we have a 1934 Studebaker fire truck. Maganda pa," said.

"There are other cities which are utterly — utterly without the tools to respond the challenges of fire. We have to come up with something that is really good. I mean at this age, it would be a shame if you cannot put up a fire in two days, three days, my God. We have to set aside," the president also said.

Go has has filed a bill that, if passed, will let the Bureau of Fire Protection hire more personnel, acquire modern fire equipment and provide more training to firefighters, the Senate says in a press release.

New Salary Standardization Law

Duterte also called for passage of a "new version of the Salary Standardization Law," which is meant to give government employees better pay.

 "[T]o the teachers ... who toil and work tirelessly to educate our young, this will include what you have been asking for," Duterte said in a mix of English and Filipino, referring to calls made by teachers to raise their pay after the salaries for police and military personnel were increased.

"This is intended to increase the salaries of national government workers, including teachers and nurses," Duterte said.

Government 'rightsizing' bill

The president also called for passage of a bill that will streamline government by addressing overlapping functions and reduce government expenditures. He said the bill is needed "to reconfigure the existing Metro Manila-centric bureaucracy; streamline government systems in order to deliver services without delay and within a short timeline."

A version of the bill, which covers the executive department and its attached agencies and offices, was approved at the House on third and final reading during the 17th Congress but did not pass at the Senate.

Coco Levy Fund

Duterte also called for a new version of a bill on the use of "coco levy" funds collected from coconut farmers during the Marcos administration and that was supposed to be used for the benefit of the coconut industry.

In February, Duterte vetoed Congress' bill on the use of the funds, saying it lacked "vital safeguards to avoid the repetition of painful mistakes in the past."

The president said the measure did not reflect the ultimate goal of accelerating the full use of coconut levy assets and funds for the benefit of coconut farmers and the coconut industry but did not provide specifics.

"Itong coco fund na ito, ito 'yung naiwan sa — noong kay Marcos na levy fund. This is sacred money. This money was taken out of the pockets of the Filipinos arbitrarily. Wala kang magawa noon eh Martial Law," he said in his SONA.

(This coco fund was left behind — during Marcos' time, this levy fund. This is sacred money. This money was taken out of the pockets of the Filipinos arbitrarily. You couldn't do anything about that because of martial law)

National Defense Act

Duterte mentioned a raft of measures "aimed at strengthening defense-related systems," chief among them the National Defense Act.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson filed a version of the bill in the 17th Congress "to update national defense policies, principles and concepts, to institutionalize needed improvements and to codify various laws on national defense, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the civilian bureaus, with the end in view of streamlining and further professionalizing our country’s defense department."

He has refiled the bill at the 18th Congress. 

Among the proposals in the Lacson bill are mandatory military service for all Filipinos, and the power to utilize them through mobilization, which includes "all measures necessary to pass prom a peace to a war footing or in any case of actual invasion or when public safety so requires."

The president also called for passage of the Unified Military and Uniformed Personnel Separation, Retirement, and Pension Bill.

Mandatory Reserve Officers' Training Corps training 

The president also called for passage of a bill to require students in Grades 11 and 12 to enroll in Reserve Officers' Training Corps, saying he believes military training for the youth is "very important." 

He said that the youth today no longer know how to handle guns "to defend even his father and mother and brothers and sisters." He said the youth are "bereft of the patriotism and the love of country."

Duterte has said that he skipped mandatory ROTC by pretending to have tuberculosis.

ROTC became a component of the National Service Training Program in 2002 and was no longer mandatory. The law was changed after the murder of a University of Santo Tomas ROTC cadet who had exposed corruption in the corps.