Lawmaker assures passage of bills to benefit Clark investors

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — This province’s third district Rep. Reynaldo Aquino assured investors at the Clark special economic zone that two pending bills that would confirm tax privileges will be passed into law soon.

This was after officials of the Clark Investors and Locators Association (CILA) warned that some investors here may finally move out of the country amid the failure of Congress to pass House Bills 5064 and 4900 before it went on recess last week.

In an interview with The Star, Aquino corrected reports that the bills have yet to pass the House committee on rules.

"The bills have already been tackled in the rules committee and is set to be presented to the plenary for approval," he said. "We expect no objections to the proposals. I can attribute the delays in the passage of the bills to the fact that the House had been very preoccupied with other priorities such as Charter change and the budget."

He denied reports that opposition lawmakers have been blocking the bills which has triggered fears of investments flight at the Clark economic zone.

Aquino said that he and his colleagues in the House from Central Luzon are confident that the two pending tax privilege bills would be tackled once Congress resumes on May 15.

"Of course, there is still the anti-terror bill in the priority, but I can assure Clark investors and other Central Luzon folk who are looking forward to more employment at Clark that the bills will surely be passed," he added.

Last week, the CILA again appealed to members of Congress to pass immediately House Bills 5064 and 4900 "that would rectify the inconsistent investment policy under Republic Act 7227 and keep investors in special economic zones from pulling out multi-billion peso investments."

House Bills 5064 and 4900, sponsored by Tarlac Rep. Jesli Lapus, chairman of  the House ways and means committee and main sponsor of HB 4900 and 4901, are expected to resolve the impasse on the Supreme Court’s decision in July last year declaring that Clark investors are not entitled to tax perks enjoyed by their counterparts at the Subic Bay Freeport.