MANILA, Philippines — If the House of Representatives wanted a quicker passage of the estate tax amnesty bill, it should have approved the bill and transmitted it to the upper chamber earlier, said Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri.
Zubiri made the statement on Tuesday after Albay 2nd District Representative Joey Salceda urged the Senate to fast-track the passage of the bill before Congress goes on sine die adjournment.
House Bill No. 7909, or the proposed Tax Amnesty Act, would extend the estate tax amnesty deadline to two years. It was only on Monday that the lower chamber approved the measure on the final reading.
READ: Salceda dares Senate to quickly pass bill extending estate tax amnesty
“First of all, all tax measures emanate from the House of Representatives. They just passed that on the third reading and only transmitted it to the Senate today…If Congressman Salceda wanted it quicker, then they should have passed it before the Holy Week break,” Zubiri told reporters in a message.
He said the proposed law will be heard by the appropriate Senate panel on Friday.
The bill will hopefully be sponsored in plenary on Monday, Zubiri added.
“We are going to act on the matter with dispatch but it would have been better if the house passed it earlier,” the legislator said.
Zubiri also expressed with certainty that Salceda is “not ignorant” of the constitutional requirements on legislative processes.
After the bill is passed by the Senate committee, it will be elevated and sponsored in plenary.
Zubiri said the bill must then be passed on second reading.
He further noted that it would “take another three days for the third reading unless the measure is certified as urgent by Malacañang.”
Salceda earlier said that, if the Senate fails to act fast on the proposed measure, there may not be sufficient time to tackle the bill, as the 19th Congress’ first regular session is set to adjourn sine dine by June 2.
The session will resume on July 23 – in time for the second State of the National Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Aside from Salceda, Batangas 6th District Representative Ralph Recto also appealed to his former “classmates” in the Senate to begin discussing and eventually approve the proposed tax measure.