AmCham Philippines Legislative Committee Meeting
John Forbes’ Assessment on the 2nd SONA of President Duterte

By MJ Nama
The Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) of Commerce of the Philippines is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to increase investment and employment in the Philippines. The JFC is active from a business perspective in reflecting inputs from focus group discussions of top business leaders on seven sectors with high growth potential: agri-business, BPM, creative industries, infrastructure, manufacturing and logistics, mining, and tourism, with 471 recommendations to build a more competitive Philippine economy, leading to high growth and new jobs.
Early this year, the Philippine Business Groups- Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines wrote a proposal addressed to the Office of the President, and selected twelve reforms after a series of meetings among themselves and the representatives of Congressional and Executive agencies out of a list of 25 proposed measures. The order of the twelve reforms below is per the “voting” results, with most measures receiving tied votes:
1. Constitutional Amendments (foreign equity restrictions)
2. Comprehensive Tax Reforms
3. Apprenticeship Program Reform
4. BOT Law Amendments
5. Freedom of Information
6. Corporation Code Amendments
7. Public Service Act Amendments
8. Telecom Reforms
9. Water Sector Reform Act
10. Bank Secrecy Law Amendments
11. Emergency powers to address traffic and transportation crises
12. Retail trade act amendments

In line with this, there are also the top LEDAC priorities. LEDAC (Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council) is the consultative and advisory body to the President. It acts as head of the national economic and planning agency, and gives consultations regarding certain programs and policies that are needed to meet the goals of the national economy. Listed below are their top 12 priorities:
1. Unified National Identification System Act
2. Security of tenure bill (End of “Endo” or Contractualization)
3. Utilization of the Coconut Levy Fund
4. National Transport Act to address transport traffic crisis
5. Budget Reform Act
6. Right sizing of the National Government
7. Amendments to the Anti-Cybercrime Act
8. Amendments to the Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996
9. Amendments to the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Charter to allow free irrigation
10. Amendments to the Public Service Act
11. Ease of Doing Business Act/Fast Business Permit Act
12. Government Procurement Reform Act Amendments
These reforms and priorities were briefly discussed during the breakfast discussion. Moreover, John Forbes compared the previous SONA versus the latest, although he only focused on the items that would affect business in the Philippines.
During last year’s SONA, President Duterte promised bank secrecy and the institution of mandatory reforms to promote ease in doing business. Bank secrecy has already been implemented and there have been some changes; however, promoting ease in doing business is still a challenge due to corruption and bureaucracy.
On the amendment of laws on human terrorism, terrorism financing and cybercrime, this has already been promised since Arroyo’s administration and now, we have the Bangsamoro Basic Law. President Duterte also discussed providing universal health insurance and strengthening the capabilities of government hospitals, which has already been done during the Aquino administration. The vow to enact the whistleblower protection law and strengthen the witness protection program are still challenges.

Compared to the list of undertakings during last year’s SONA, here are the legislations mentioned as of July 24, 2017:
1. 2018 proposed budget
2. BBL (Bangsamoro Basic Law)
3. Comprehensive Tax Reform
4. Creation of the Department of Disaster Resilience and Response
5. Death Penalty re-imposition for heinous crimes
6. Federalism (Charter Change)
7. Government Procurement Act
8. Lowering age of criminal liability
9. National land use act
10. Rightsizing the Government Act
11. Salary Standardization Law
Out of all these promises, as a Filipino citizen, I believe that the power of the law can only do so much unless we, responsible citizens of the Philippines become more active, aware and accountable.
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About the author:
MJ is a supervising business development consultant at Zenger-Folkman. Prior to this, she was a talent acquisition associate from StaffBuilders Asia, a division of John Clements Consultants. She graduated at the University of the East with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. MJ also works as a part-time TV Host at IBC 13.


