President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos delivers his first State of the Nation Address on July 25, 2022. (Screengrab from RTVM live streaming)
MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives is on a “working break,” but bicameral conferences are expected to be held for priority bills during the week of the State of the Nation Address (SONA).
Albay 2nd District Representative Joey Salceda gave this schedule on Thursday.
Salceda said both chambers of Congress can still tackle the important measures being pushed by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac).
These include bills on Public Private Partnership (PPP) and Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT), which are already on the Senate floor.
“We are on a working break, basically. I chair the [technical working group] of the PPP Act, and I am chair of ways and means, and we expect PPP and EOPT to have (a) bicam convened during SONA week or the days after,” Salceda said in a statement.
Other measures that are expected to move again during SONA week include the Philippine Downstream Natural Gas Industry bill, and the Salt Industry Development bill, he added.
“On EOPT, the remaining issue to settle is the shift to a purely invoice tax system, from a hybrid receipt and invoice system,” Salceda said.
“The shift to invoice will make it very difficult to fake receipts. But it has consequences on industries that are heavy on receivables, such as utilities. So, we will try to iron out the kinks on that issue,” the lawmaker said.
As for the PPP bill, Salceda said key issues to be discussed will be “the conversion of a project from unsolicited to solicited, the bidding process, and approval thresholds.”
Salceda also expressed his objection to the provision of higher tariffs on salt for the Salt Industry Development bill.
After the House of Representatives adjourned its first regular session on Wednesday night, the second regular session will resume when President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. delivers his second SONA on July 24, 2023.
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