NCC takes steps to repeal nearly 4,000 redundant laws

By Roy Stephen C. Canivel, June 13, 2016, http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Economy&title=NCC-takes-steps-to-repeal-nearly-4,000-redundant-laws-&id=128951

EIGHT GOVERNMENT agencies have expressed their commitment to reducing red tape, which impedes the competitiveness of doing business in the country, with nearly 4,000 issuances in the process of being repealed.

In a statement released to journalists on the 1st Repeal Day, an event meant to formalize the commitment of the eight agencies, the National Competitiveness Council said 3,959 issuances would undergo a repeal, a delisting, or an amendment.

“Of this number, 1,900 are subject for repeal, while 2,032 previously repealed rules are subject for deletion/delisting from official Web sites and rosters of regulations and laws, 22 similar issuances are subject for consolidation into one legal document, and 5 are for amendment or deletion of certain provisions,” the statement read.

In the sidelines of the event, Mr. Guillermo M. Luz, co-chairman of the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) for the private sector told reporters that the vast selection of laws and issuances confounds the business community.

“For NCC, we’re gonna post on our website those laws that have been delisted because right now it’s hard if you look at all the laws, we don’t know how many laws there are in the country, it’s hard to figure out what’s active and inactive,” he said.

The main government agencies are the departments of trade and industry, finance, energy, budget and management, tourism, securities and exchange, and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB). The other agencies not covered in the first repeal day would be assessed later this year, according to Mr. Luz.

The initiative, which is part of a larger commitment that would eventually repeal irrelevant laws and orders of local government units, is largely based on recommendations from the said agencies, while some are crowdsourced from the private sector.

Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” A. Aquino IV, also speaking to reporters in the sidelines of the event, referred to a planned bill that would institutionalize a Philippine Efficiency Office, which would be mandated to prevent the redundancy of laws.

“Yung isang batas na gusto nating i-file yung Philippine Efficiency Office (the law that we want to file is the Philippine Efficiency Office) — that office is gonna do something similar to what NCC is doing,” he said.

“When we institutionalize an office that would look for efficiency, malaking bagay yan kasi then kung may mga batas na bago na ilalabas, pwede siyang i-cross reference dun sa mga bagong batas na nailabas na (that’s a big thing because then we can cross reference the new laws with the existing ones),” he added.