Pangilinan blamed for veto of Centenarian bill
MANILA--Senator Francis Pangilinan is to blame for President Benigno Aquino III’s veto on the consolidated bill that seeks to grant 75 percent discounts to centenarians, the principal author of the House version of the bill said.
Albay Representative Edcel Lagman, author of House Bill 834 entitled “An Act Honoring and Granting Additional Benefits and Privileges to Filipino Centenarians,” said it was Pangilinan who sought to increase the discount to be provided to centenarians once the mea- sure is enacted.
In his veto message, Aquino acknowledged the intent of the measure but said that, “the 75 percent discount exceeds the usual mark-up rate of most businesses and will obliterate profit margins and result in capital loss” because “the proposed measure does not provide for a tax deduction to recover the said discount.
Lagman’s measure provides a 50-percent discount on sales of goods and services while Pangilinan’s version of the bill proposes a 75-percent discount.
“Bill grabbers are sometimes the bane of legislation because instead of assuring the enactment of a measure into law, they prejudice the final approval of a bill by the President,” Lagman said.
Pangilinan is a member of Aquino’s Liberal Party.
Lagman said the House of Representatives “was constrained to concur with the Senate amendment” as the Senate version was approved shortly before the adjournment of Congress for the political campaign. (
“There was no more time to harmonize the difference between the House and Senate bills through a bicameral conference, the House of Representatives was constrained to concur with the Senate amendment,” Lagman said.
With the veto of the centenarian bill, Lagman said about 7,000 Filipino centenarians have to wait for some time before they could avail themselves of additional benefits, including a P100,000 cash gift from the National Government.
“Meanwhile, more centenarians will be gone without getting the legislated benefits,” he said.
The outgoing lawmaker’s son who will replace him in the 16th Congress will re-file the vetoed bill without the provision objected to by President Aquino.