Gov’t to push land use, fiscal incentive bills in 16th Congress

MANILA, Philippines – Following the signing of the sin tax bill into law, the Aquino administration will push for the passage of at least two priority measures in the 16th Congress.

The measures are the National Land Use Act and the Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives, which were included in the initial list of priority bills submitted by the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.

Balisacan, who is also director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said the National Land Use Act passed third reading in the House of Representatives, but only reached second reading in the Senate. The Senate started deliberating on the Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives bill in April 2012.

Balisacan said both will be refiled in the next Congress in June.

He expressed optimism particularly on the case of the National Land Use Act. He said it will be easier to push for the bill’s passage since most of the work has been done. 

As for the fiscal incentive bill, Balisacan said the government hopes legislators will see its importance.

“We want to make sure that the fiscal, the gains in the fiscal reforms would be sustained and in fact, would be deepened. Sin taxes will give additional revenues, but if incentives are not rationalized, it’s easy to wipe out the gains. Anyone can just get incentives so these need to be rationalized toward really achieving clear, definite goals,” Balisacan said.

Mining law pushed?

Balisacan said a mining bill would also be endorsed to the 16th Congress. He said this is a “win-win” strategy for the government because it would clarify the revenue sharing scheme between the private and public sectors. 

He said a new mining measure should also clarify the royalty sharing between the national and local governments, and state “who approves what” and “who restores what.”

However, he said including this in the priority list would require consultation with other government agencies and the President.

The NEDA functions as the LEDAC secretariat, providing technical assistance and administrative support to the council. It also determines the agenda for and prepares the minutes of the council’s meetings.  

It also manages and maintains the official records of the council, prepares its annual budget, among other functions and tasks. – Rappler.com