NEDA: Bills in Ledac agenda to aid rebound
THE National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) lauded on Tuesday the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council’s (Ledac) approval of the Common Legislative Agenda (CLA) for the 18th Congress, as it would help the government’s efforts to rebound from the coronavirus crisis.
In a statement, Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said the 30 bills that made up the CLA, for which the council’s executive committee convened on February 18, “are crucial in ensuring the country’s economic recovery and in regaining our development trajectory that was held back by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Of the 27 measures in the initial CLA, Congress has passed five: the 2021 General Appropriations Act; Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer (FIST) Act; amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act; Coconut Farmers’ and Industry Trust Fund Act; and the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (Create).
Twelve were identified as bills that must be passed by June 2021. These are the proposed Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery Act (Guide); the third and fourth packages of the government’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program, or the Valuation Reform and Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation measures; amendments to the Public Service, Retail Trade Liberalization and Foreign Investments laws; Rural Agricultural and Fisheries Development Financing System Act; Creating a Medical Reserve Corps Act; Creating a Disease Prevention and Control Authority Act; Imposing Amusement Tax on Digital Platform and Offshore Betting Stations of Licensed Cockpits; Establishing the Tax Regime of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators; and Strengthening Local Government Participation in National Development by Increasing the Share of Local Government Units in the National Internal Revenue Taxes.
Others measures eyed for passage this year include the creation of the Overseas Filipinos and Disaster Resilience departments; the National Land Use and Management Act; Internet Transactions Act; Magna Carta for Barangay Health Workers Act; National Housing Development Act; Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Act; and Reviving the Death Penalty by Lethal Injection for Crimes specified under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
“As we safely reopen our economy and begin our vaccination program this year, we need to enact these bills to create an enabling economic environment and further
strengthen our healthcare and fiscal system against future pandemics and other threats,” said Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, who leads the committee.
“The pandemic has pulled back our human development gains, but at the same time, it has given us the opportunity to assess how we can bounce back stronger and protect our people from future shocks,” he added.
“The measures in the CLA will lay the groundwork to ensure that Filipinos will not face the same problems of hunger, job loss, and sickness in the future.”
Besides Medialdea, other panel members are Senate President Vicente Sotto 3rd; House Speaker Lord Allan Jay Velasco; Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles; Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd; Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado; and other Senate and House leaders.