Drilon vows to push economic reform bills in next Congress

By: Butch Fernandez | February 18, 2016

Conceding there is no more time to act on pending economic reform bills when lawmakers reconvene as a national canvassing board after the May 9 presidential elections, Senate President Franklin Drilon vowed to push for early passage of the unapproved measures that would lure more investors to the country in the next Congress.

Admitting at a media forum that “there are a number of measures that were left unpassed” by the Senate and the House when they adjourned last week, Drilon held out hopes that the unpassed bills, including a long-pending proposal to relax restrictions on foreign investors, could still be enacted into law.

“First and foremost are the needed amendments to the Constitution that will allow Congress to review the very restrictive provisions of the Constitution so we can open our economy,” Drilon said.

He recalled that “the conditions when we drafted the 1987 Constitution were very different from today. After 30 years a lot of things have happened and it is very important that we respond to these challenges.” The Senate President argued there was no question “that we must not remain isolated.”

“We must be able to respond quickly and, therefore, we must have some flexibility in the constitutional provisions,” he added.  Drilon, however, clarified that “I am not proposing any specific amendment.”

“What I am just saying is amend the Constitution in such a manner that a review is possible without amending the Constitution by putting the phrase ‘unless otherwise provided by law,’ which would allow us to review these policies, whether they should stay or not,” he said, adding, “the first step is to enable Congress to do this.”

At the same time, Drilon said he would push for a review of the income-tax structure, pointing out that the existing brackets were set two decades ago.

“Today, 20 years after, a good percentage of our taxpayers are already in our bracket, so the original concept that the higher your income, the higher your taxes should be as a means of supporting other members of our society is no longer valid, because we are all there,” he said.

Drilon also cited the long-proposed rationalization of fiscal incentives, justifying the need to do this to attract more foreign investments.

“Fiscal incentive is granted precisely in order for foreign companies to come to our country and provide jobs to our people. That’s why they are provided incentives or income-tax holidays, and capital exemptions from customs duties on capital equipment,” he said.

The Senate leader explained there are foreign investors who have indicated their desire to come to the Philippines and set up shop here.

“We would like to review how effective these incentives are up to today. Are they effective in terms of generating employment, is there duplication? There are so many incentive-granting agencies. Are the present incentives granted commensurate to their contribution to the economy?” Drilon asked.

As a first step, he said, Congress crafted the Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act, which will allow the public to scrutinize and see “whether these incentives granted are serving the purpose for which these are instituted.” He added that these are “just some of the measures I intend to sponsor in the next Congress.”

Source: www.businessmirror.com.ph