Business groups appeal for passage of reform bills

BUSINESS groups have called on the two chambers of Congress to immediately enact key economic legislation, before most lawmakers shift their focus to their individual bids for the upcoming 2010 elections.

In separate letters dated September 8 and addressed to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and House Speaker Prospero Nograles, businessmen said the ratification of the said bills will pave the way for “a more rapid recovery of the Philippines from the global economic crisis, future growth, and improved national competitiveness.”

The business groups said they look forward to the passage of the Pre-Need Code and the Real Estate Investment Trust Bill, which are under discussions at the bicameral committee.

Also, businessmen said the following priority bills have been passed by the House of Representatives and can move to the bicameral committee upon the Senate’s approval: Amendment to Customs Brokers Act (currently pending second reading); Department of Information and Communications Technology Bill (pending second reading); Freedom of Access to Information Bill (pending second reading); Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives Bill (pending at the economic affairs committee); and Simplified Net Income Tax Scheme (pending at the Senate ways and means committee).

Also pending in the upper chamber of Congress are: Amendments to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Charter Bill (at the ways and means committee); Anti-Smuggling Bill (ways and means committee); Land Use Bill (natural resources committee); Residential Free Patent Bill (constitutional amendments committee); and OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] Tax Compliance Amendments (ways and means committee).

Pending in the House are the following measures: Amendments to the BSP Charter Bill, Anti-Smuggling Bill and OECD Tax Compliance Amendments (all three pending at the House ways and means committee); and Land Use Bill (pending at the land use committee).

Business leaders who signed the letters were Topper Coronel, Bankers Association of the Philippines executive director; Oscar Sañez, Business Processing Association of the Philippines chief executive officer; Miguel Valera, Employers Confederation of the Philippines president; Roberto Borromeo, Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines president; Ramon del Rosario Jr., Makati Business Club chairman; Joey Bermudez, Management Association of the Philippines president; Edgardo Lacson, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry president; Sergio Ortiz-Luis, Philippine Exporters Confederation president; and Ernesto Santiago, Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. president.

Also signatories were the presidents of the various foreign business chambers in the country: Austen Chamberlain of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines; Richard Barclay of the Australian-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines; Richard Mills of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines; Hubert D’Aboville of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines; Yasuhiko Arimitsu of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Philippines; Eun Gap Chang of the Korean Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines; and Shameem Quarashi of the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters Inc. — Ben Arnold O. de Vera, Manila Times