How do you accelerate economic turnaround?
One way, as pointed out by House Speaker Martin Romualdez, is for the legislature to pass the nine priority bills of Malacañang to enhance the investment and business environment in the country.
The priority legislative measures of the Palace are the GUIDE Act (Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery);
Valuation Reform Bill; Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act or PIFITA; E-Government Act; Internet Transaction Act or E-Commerce Law; National Land Use Act; Enactment of an Enabling Law for the Natural Gas Industry;
Amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act and Amendments to the Build-Operate-Transfer Law.
These bills cover various sectors of the economy, from financial institutions to E-Governance to land use and the power and natural gas industries, among others. If passed into law, these would certainly boost the Marcos administration’s “Agenda of Prosperity,” whose key objective is to hasten the country’s “economic transformation towards inclusivity and sustainability.”
The passage of these bills before year-end, according to the House leader, would in fact be a significant development as these would set the first stage to full economic recovery in 2023 and beyond.
Romualdez is bullish about the country’s economic prospects, judging from the keen interest shown by foreign businessmen in Philippine efforts to boost two-way trade and encourage investments in a broad range of domestic industries.
The President’s recent visits to Indonesia, Singapore and the APEC Summit in Thailand highlighted the gains made by the Philippines in economic recovery even as the COVID-19 pandemic has yet to be fully contained.
Romualdez has given assurances that “the best is yet to come” for the country as the administration’s economic development goals are adequately spelled out in the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework and its eight-point socioeconomic plan.
The House adopted this through Concurrent Resolution No. 2 shortly after the 19th Congress convened in July.
“For the first time, the country has a clear six-year agenda with clearly defined goals,” he pointed out.
The optimism is well-founded, as the economy improved by an average of 7.7 percent in the first three quarters of 2022.
The country’s economic managers expect the economy to grow by 6.9 percent in the last quarter to meet the growth target of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent this year.
Congress and the Executive branch of government must closely collaborate in getting the Agenda for Prosperity up and running on all cylinders. Economic recovery should be the central task in the years ahead to fulfill our people’s hopes of a better future.
