With the country facing heavy economic woes because of government’s inadequate tax revenues and a chronic financial deficit problem, Congress is hard pressed to pass legislative measures that are needed to shore up the nation’s coffers and ease public sector debt problems.

However, Congress has only managed to pass only one national law – Fixing the Date of ARMM Elections (RA 9333) – since it opened last 26 July. The legislature is supposed to pass measures to meet the government’s critical need for revenue generation and it looks like rough sailing for all proposed measures as some lawmakers now oppose the imposition of new taxes, saying Malacañang should first improve its tax-collection system before it asks Congress to craft new ones.

During the recess, the House said it hoped to pass four of the eight new tax measures proposed by Malacañang by the end of the year. These are the bills on: lateral attrition, indexation of taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, tax amnesty, and rationalization of tax incentives for the private sector. The Senate, however, only committed to the passage of the new sin taxes. All eight measures, including the shift to gross income from net income taxation, franchise tax on telcos, increase in excise tax on oil products, and raising of the VAT rate, are calculated to bring in P80 billion annually for the government.

At present only two measures, (attrition system for government employees and yet another tax amnesty for delinquent taxpayers) have managed to move and are now pending second reading. A third one, raising excise taxes on cigarettes and alcohol products based on inflation, is undergoing public hearings under the House Committee on Ways and Means.

The House also adopted Speaker Jose de Venecia’s 12-point wealth creation program – centered on reviving the mining industry, major reclamation and reforestation projects, and a Hongkong-like enclave in Subic and Clark to attract long-term investments, to complement President Arroyo’s 10-Point Legacy Program, which in itself targets five key areas: job creation and economic growth, energy independence and savings, social justice and basic needs, education improvement and youth opportunity, and an anti-corruption campaign.

Expected to be discussed and passed for the rest of the legislative year are the 2005 General Appropriations Act and the postponement of Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections which is expected to help the government save P1 billion already earmarked in the national budget.

BUTIL Representative dies at 70

Party List Rep. Benjamin A. Cruz, 70 of the BUTIL Farmers Party passed away on 15 October. A full-time organizer of peasant groups and farm cooperatives during the height of the government’s supervised food production program in the 70s, he was a pioneer in the Samahang Nayon movement, which provided the support infrastructure for the government’s food production program and organized rural-based bank cooperatives on the side.

Cruz was on his third term in the House as Party List congressman and was named Chairman of the Special Committee on Food Security in the current 13th Congress. In the 12th Congress, he headed the Special Committee on Priority Provinces.

Section 16 of the the Party-List System Act (RA 7941) provides for the vacancy left by Cruz to be filled by Leonila V. Chavez, the next representative in the list of nominees submitted to the Comelec by BUTIL during the last elections.

This brings the number of House members to 235 with Cebu Representative Joseph “Ace” Durano’s awaiting confirmation of his appointment as Tourism Secretary from the Commission on Appointments. Two other former members of the House have joined the Arroyo Cabinet, former Batanes Representative Florencio Abad as Education Secretary and former Iloilo City Representative Raul Gonzalez as Justice Secretary.

Revised Legislative Calendar

The Calendar of Session has been amended to give both chambers of Congress more time to tackle much-needed legislation to implement fiscal and economic reforms. Instead of adjourning on 30 October, sessions will be held continuously upon resumption on 25 October until 17 December 2004. Congress will again adjourn on 18 December and will resume on 10 January 2005. Sen. Francis N. Pangilinan is also proposing to amend the legislative calendar again, this time to give Congress ample time for budget deliberations.