III.

Latest Policies/Programs
1. HOUSE PASSES P5.024-T NAT’L BUDGET FOR 2022; SPEAKER VELASCO
LAUDS TIMELY PASSAGE OF PRRD’S LAST SPENDING PLAN (01 October
2021 01:00:58 AM)
 Beating its self-imposed deadline, the House of Representatives approved on
third and final reading Thursday night the proposed P5.024-trillion 2022
national budget, which is focused on getting the Philippines back on the road
towards full recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. The 2022 budget proposal is
contained in House Bill No. 10153 entitled “An Act Appropriating Funds for
the Operation of the Government of the Philippines from January 1 to
December 31, 2022.

2. PASSAGE OF BILL CREATING PHILIPPINE ENERGY RESEARCH AND

POLICY INSTITUTE (15 March 2021 05:38:57 PM)
 Voting 208-0 with no abstention, lawmakers unanimously approved on third
and final reading House Bill (HB) 8928 to be known as the “Philippine Energy
Research and Policy Institute Act.”

Under the bill, PERPI will be an independent policy and technology research
institution attached to the University of the Philippines (UP) headed by an
Executive Director, a recognized expert in energy policy and research.

PERPI is expected to provide timely technical and strategic assistance to the

government, energy regulators, and Congress on energy-related matters
requiring policy direction and advice. It shall also serve as a medium in
bringing together local and international experts in the field of energy through
local and international linkages.

The bill also seeks to establish mechanisms for disseminating and utilizing
research for technology and policy development, creating and administering
training programs, and providing appropriate fellowship grants for capacity
building of the academe and energy stakeholders.

An endowment fund administered and maintained by the PERPI will also be

created to finance its operations, including purchasing research equipment and
facilities, compensation, and honoraria of researchers.

The fund will be sourced from contributions, donations, grants, and other
incomes from the PERPI’s operations.

3. COVID-19 VACCINES TO BE PROCURED UNDER EMERGENCY LAW NOT

FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES (24 February 2021 04:29:35 PM)
 HB 8648, or the proposed COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021, was
principally authored by Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, Majority Leader
Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, Minority Leader Joseph Stephen “Caraps”
Paduano, and Cua.
 The House later the Senate version—a move Cua said was necessary and
practical to fast-track the approval of the measure since it would no longer
have to go through the bicameral conference.

In coordination with the Department of Health (DOH) and National Task

Force Against COVID-19 (NTF), the bill allows local government units and
private entities to enter into a multiparty agreement with the DOH and relevant
supplier the procurement of vaccines. It also provides tax exemptions for the
purchase, importation, storage, transport, distribution, and administration of
COVID-19 vaccines by LGUs. More importantly, it sets up a P500-million
indemnity fund for the adverse events following immunization.

4. P5B funding for assistance programs of OFWs affected by COVID-19 pandemic

approved. (23 May 2020 07:11:39 AM)
 The House of Representatives continues to provide the necessary support for
overseas Filipinos affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Committee
on Overseas Workers Affairs approving on Friday a substitute bill seeking to
provide assistance programs for distressed Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)
and appropriating P5 billion for their implementation.

The committee chaired by Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza (Party-list,

TUCP) approved the unnumbered substitute bill, which consolidated House
Bill 234 authored by Rep. Alfred Vargas (5th District, Quezon City), HB 277
by Rep. Michael Edgar Aglipay (Party-list, DIWA), HB 4156 by Rep.
Teodorico Haresco Jr. (2nd District, Aklan), and HB 5043 by the Makabayan
bloc.

The assistance programs include 1) repatriation, 2) medical expenses in the

form of vouchers for six months from arrival, 3) migration fees for
overstaying Filipinos, 4) legal assistance, and 5) necessities, among others.

5. Ways and Means panel approve the fourth package of the Comprehensive Tax
Reform Program (27 August 2019 07:34:57 PM)
 The Duterte Administration's Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP)
marches on as the House Committee on Ways and Means chaired by Rep.
Joey Sarte Salceda (2nd District, Albay) approved House Bill 307 or the
"Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act (PIFITA)" on
Tuesday.

The PIFITA mainly aims to: a) provide neutrality in the tax treatment across
financial institutions and financial instruments; b) simplify what has become a
complex tax system; c) improve equity across investors and savers; d)
minimize arbitrage opportunities; and e) promote capital market development
and tax competitiveness within the context of financial globalization,
increased mobility, and financial inclusion.
6. House approves OFW Remittance Protection Bill (10 February 2019 09:50:50 AM)
 To further protect the hard-earned money of overseas Filipino workers
(OFWs), the House of Representatives approved on second reading House Bill
9032 or the proposed "Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) Remittance
Protection Act," which seeks to grant discounts to their remittances to their
families in the Philippines.

Principally authored by Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. (3rd District, Pampanga),

the bill states that the government recognizes the significant contribution of
OFWs to the national economy through foreign exchange remittances. Thus, it
shall institute effective mechanisms to protect the rights and interests of the
OFWs, particularly their remittances.

The bill seeks to provide for a limit on the remittance fees to be imposed,
discounts to OFWs, and tax incentives for the establishments providing for
such deals.

To this end, the measure stipulates that banks and non-bank financial
intermediaries shall provide a mandatory discount on remittance fees of 10 to
50 percent depending on the amount to be remitted.

All establishments providing discounts on remittance fees may claim these

discounts as a tax deduction based on the cost of services rendered for the
OFWs. The tax deduction shall be mandatory; thus, it shall grant incentives for
remittance establishments as they grant the discounts.

The bill prohibits the imposition of remittance fees over those prescribed
under the proposed Act.

7. House Subcom on Marawi Rehabilitation meets with Task Force Bangon Marawi (15
January 2019 08:56:13 PM)
 Members of the House Subcommittee on Marawi Rehabilitation, under the
Committee on Disaster Management, and the Task Force Bangon Marawi
(TFMB) on Tuesday met on the planned rehabilitation of Marawi City after it
was devastated by terrorism perpetrated by the Maute clan that led to a bloody
war between terrorists and government forces.

Department of Finance (DOF) Undersecretary Mark Joven briefed the

committee on the $400 million worth of grants and loans from the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) for the Marawi Rehabilitation. The said amount
was earmarked to finance the city's rehabilitation and reconstruction,
particularly involving infrastructure projects expected to be completed by the
end of 2021.
 Joven said the ADB likewise provided a total of $8 million grant, which will
be divided and managed by several agencies that include the Department of
Health (DOH), Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), Department of
Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and Department of Education (DepEd).

Aside from this, China also provided a grant of P1.1 billion in equipment.

8. House approves on final reading P3.757-T national budget for 2019 (20 November
2018 08:04:54 PM)
 Voting 196-8 without abstention, the House of Representatives on Tuesday
approved on third and final reading House Bill 8169 or the proposed Fiscal
Year 2019 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), which provides for a national
budget of P3.757 trillion for next year.

The Top 10 sectors that will get the most significant budgetary allocations in
the 2019 national budget shall be: 1) education sector, with the Department of
Education (DepEd), state universities and colleges (SUCs), Commission on
Higher Education (CHED), and Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority (TESDA) to get a combined budget of P659.3 billion; 2)
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) P555.7 billion; 3)
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) P225.6 billion; 4)
Department of National Defense (DND) P183.4 billion; 5) Department of
Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) P173.3 billion; 6) Department of
Health (DOH) P141.2 billion, which includes P67.4 billion for the Philippine
Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC); 7) Department of Transportation
(DOTr) P141.4 billion; 8) Department of Agriculture (DA) P76.1 billion; 9)
Judiciary P37.3 billion, and 10) Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
(ARMM) P32.3 billion.

The infrastructure program for 2019 with a P909.7 billion budget will fuel the
administration's massive Build Build Build Program.

9. House finalizes health facilities and services regulation bill (25 July 2018 06:15:25
PM)
 The Committee on Health, chaired by Rep. Angelina Tan, finalized the bill,
which seeks to strengthen the regulation of health facilities and services in
substitution of House Bills 542, 893, and 1646. These measures aim to ensure
the quality and safety of health care facilities in both private and public
hospitals.

To implement the provision and requirements of the bill, the Bureau of Health
Facilities and Regulatory Services (BHFRS) shall be established under the
Office of the Secretary of the Department of Health (DOH).

The committee also discussed that a one-stop-shop should be created for the
application, inspection, and issuance of the License to Operate (LTO). Rep.
 Joey Salceda proposed harmonizing the services and fees of all institutions
involved, including the Food and Drug Administration, Philippine Nuclear
Research Institute, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
concerning waste disposal management.

10. Duterte signs electric cooperatives emergency and resiliency fund into law (05 July
2018 02:30:31 PM)
 RA 11039 institutionalizes the emergency and resiliency fund for Electric
Cooperatives. With its passage into law, these Cooperatives will be better
served in the future to address the adverse effects of calamities and disasters.

Consistent with this policy, the new law seeks to assure the availability of
funds for Electric Cooperatives in times of fortuitous events or force majeure.
Accordingly, thirty percent (30%) of the allotted fund will be used for the
electric cooperatives’ disaster prevention, preparedness, and mitigation
measures. Meanwhile, sixty percent (60%) will be used to restore or
rehabilitate the electric cooperatives’ damaged infrastructures after a fortuitous
event or force majeure. And to cap it off, ten percent (10%) will be reserved
for the repayment of outstanding obligations incurred by the cooperatives to
finance the restoration/rehabilitation of their infrastructures damaged by a
fortuitous event or force majeure.

Congressman Velasco hopes that enacting this new law will mitigate the
worries and problems of Electric Cooperatives, especially during natural
disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes.

11. Alvarez: review tax perks of schools run by religious groups (06 March 2017
05:24:38 PM)
 Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez today sought a review of the country's tax-free
privilege of religious educational institutions to level the playing field among
private schools.

In connection with the manifestation of Alvarez, Committee Chairman Rep.

Dakila Cua directed the Bureau of Internal Revenue to submit the tax records
in the past years of big religious, educational institutions in the country.

Alvarez said he believes such tax privilege enjoyed by a religious, educational

institution is unfair to other private schools.

12. House ends interpellation on DOTr P73.8B budget (08 September 2017 10:44:58 PM)
 The House of Representatives ended the plenary deliberation on the P73.8
billion proposed budget of the Department of Transportation (DOtr) for next
year.
 The DOTr budget will be used mainly to fund the massive government
infrastructure program dubbed “Build, Build, Build,” which aims to improve
mobility across the country and modernize the country's public transportation
system.

The DOTr's proposed appropriation is much higher than its budget of P55.4
billion this year.

The funding increase is in line with the Duterte administration's commitment

to addressing the vast transport infrastructure backlog in the country.

IV. Roles during the COVID-19 Crisis

More than a week after the declaration of a public health emergency, President Duterte asked
Congress for emergency powers, citing the need to realign resources to combat the spread of
COVID-19. The House took on the proposal and became known as the Bayanihan to Heal as
One-Act. In the earlier Assessment (Atienza et al. 2020, 29),
There have been questions on the excessive use of the constitutional provision allowing an
expedited approval of a legislative measure since 1987. Citing public emergencies, the
provision allows the President to certify a bill as urgent due to public emergencies. Under this
setup, Congress does away with specific crucial steps in the normal legislative process that
ensure essential aspects of democratic deliberation, such as the three separate days for three
readings. However, a report on emergency powers granted to the Philippine president argues
that “the slippery slope of frequent recourse to emergency rule is the ever-present possibility
that such will slide into a permanent and unconstitutional regime” (La Viña et al. 2008, 1).
The Bayanihan Act gave Duterte 30 emergency powers, which, among others, provided a
Social Amelioration Program to Filipinos to cushion the economic impacts of the pandemic
and the restrictions on public transportation. It also offered hazard pay and allowance to
health workers who are the so-called “frontliners” in the fight against the virus. As a measure
of legislative oversight, Congress required the President to submit reports on the law’s
implementation, which was to take effect only for three months.
In addition to this Congress’ role during a pandemic, the 18th Congress approved the
proposed P5.024-trillion budget in 2022, boosting allocations for health workers’ benefits,
coronavirus vaccine booster shots, and other programs aimed to combat the effects of the
pandemic.
The House of Representatives and the Senate separately ratified the bicameral conference
committee report on the 2022 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), in effect giving their nod
to next year’s budget.
It took the House and Senate contingents to the bicam a little over a week to reconcile
conflicting provisions in both chambers’ versions of the GAB, with the bicam members
approving their report.
Senate finance committee chair Sonny Angara told Rappler the 2022 GAB would allot
P188.3 billion for the Department of Health (DOH), which includes around P5 billion worth
of allocations for retirement and life insurance premiums. This amount is on top of the
separate appropriations for the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation and government-run
hospitals.
This is a much lower amount than the P230.11 billion that senators wanted to give the DOH
in their version of the GAB and much closer to the House-approved version that set the
amount at P182.67 billion.
During the plenary session, Angara said in his speech that the DOH budget included funds
lawmakers realigned for the COVID-19 benefits and compensation of health workers,
emergency hiring of medical front liners, and purchase of lab equipment operation of national
reference laboratories, and hiring and training of contact tracers.
House committee on appropriations chair Eric Yap also said at least P50 billion was set aside
for the particular risk allowances of health workers, while another P50 billion was allocated
to purchase booster shots for Filipinos in 2022.
The DOH’s Health Facilities Enhancement Program was also further increased to P22.99
billion to be used for the construction, upgrading, and expansion of healthcare facilities and
procurement of hospital equipment.
Another P21.36 billion would also be set aside for assistance to indigent patients. To help
increase manpower in the health sector, some P3 billion would be set aside to fund medical
scholarships in state universities and colleges (SUCs).
REFERENCES:
Cepeda, M. (2021, December 15). Congress OKs P5.024-trillion budget in 2022 for
pandemic-hit PH. Rappler. Retrieved from https://www.rappler.com/nation/congress-
approved-2022-budget-december-2021/
Constitutional Performance Assessment in the Time of a Pandemic: The 1987 Constitution
and the Philippines’ COVID-19 Response. (n.d). Retrieved from
https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/constitutional-performance-assessment-
in-the-time-of-a-pandemic.pdf
House of Representatives. (2021, October 1). HOUSE PASSES P5.024-T NAT’L BUDGET
FOR 2022; SPEAKER VELASCO LAUDS TIMELY PASSAGE OF PRRD’S LAST
SPENDING PLAN. Republic of the Philippines House of Representatives 18th Congress.
Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?
pressid=12140&key=administration
House of Representatives. (2021, March 15). SPEAKER VELASCO HAILS PASSAGE OF
BILL CREATING PHILIPPINE ENERGY RESEARCH AND POLICY INSTITUTE. Republic
of the Philippines House of Representatives 18th Congress. Retrieved from
https://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?pressid=12029&key=administration
House of Representatives. (2021, February 24). CUA: COVID-19 VACCINES TO BE
PROCURED UNDER EMERGENCY LAW NOT FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES.
Republic of the Philippines House of Representatives 18th Congress. Retrieved from
https://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?pressid=12010&key=administration
House of Representatives. (2020, May 23). P5B funding for assistance programs of OFWs
affected by COVID-19 pandemic approved. Republic of the Philippines House of
Representatives 18th Congress. Retrieved from
https://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?pressid=11891&key=administration
House of Representatives. (2019, August 27). Ways and Means panel approves fourth
package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program. Republic of the Philippines House of
Representatives 18th Congress. Retrieved from
https://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?pressid=11699&key=administration
House of Representatives. (2019, February 10). House approves OFW Remittance Protection
Bill. Republic of the Philippines House of Representatives 18th Congress. Retrieved from
https://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?pressid=11290&key=administration
House of Representatives. (2019, January 15). House Subcom on Marawi Rehabilitation
meets with Task Force Bangon Marawi. Republic of the Philippines House of
Representatives 18th Congress. Retrieved from
https://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?pressid=11188&key=administration
House of Representatives. (2018, November 20). House approves on final reading P3.757-T
national budget for 2019. Republic of the Philippines House of Representatives 18th
Congress. Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?
pressid=11055&key=administration
House of Representatives. (2018, July 25). House finalizes health facilities and services
regulation bill. Republic of the Philippines House of Representatives 18th Congress.
Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?
pressid=10773&key=administration
House of Representatives. (2018, July 5). Duterte signs electric cooperatives emergency and
resiliency fund into law. Republic of the Philippines House of Representatives 18th
Congress. Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?
pressid=10744&key=administration
House of Representatives. (2017, March 6). Alvarez: review tax perks of schools run by
religious groups. Republic of the Philippines House of Representatives 18th Congress.
Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?
pressid=9977&key=administration