HOUSE OKS ANTI-RED TAPE BILL ON 2ND READING

THE House of Representatives passed on second reading House Bill 7884, granting President Rodrigo Duterte special powers against red tape in government.

The bill breezed through first and second reading as the House convened into a Committee of the Whole past midnight on Friday before suspending the Thursday session. It is expected to be passed on final reading later on Friday, the last day of the special session.

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and Majority Leader Martin Romualdez led the filing of the bill on Wednesday evening, after President Duterte certified it as urgent.

The bill seeks to authorize the President to expedite the processing and issuance of national and local permits, licenses and certifications in times of national emergency. It allows the President to suspend the requirements and to streamline and expedite the process of issuance of these documents.

The bill covers all agencies under the executive branch of government, including departments, bureaus, offices, commissions, boards, councils, government instrumentalities, and governmentowned and - controlled corporations.

The bill also grants the President the authority to suspend or remove any government official or employee performing acts contrary to the speedy issuance of permits.

In the bill’s explanatory note, the authors cited the need for the government to lessen the burden of the people, especially amid the pandemic by reducing transaction costs in all government agencies and “provide an efficient delivery of its services while maintaining integrity and accountability in government service and the promotion of transparency in the transactions of the government with the public, encompassing a program for the adoption of simplified requirements and procedures.”