With an overwhelming 282 votes, the House of Representatives on Thursday approved on third and final reading a bill that seeks financing for small businesses, especially those crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic and other significant economic challenges of national and international scope.
House Bill (HB) 1 was the first legislative proposal introduced by Speaker Martin G. Romualdez. The bill is titled, “An Act providing for Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery,” or GUIDE Act.
According to the bill, the operations of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have been severely restricted by pandemic-related community quarantine measures.
“Thus, it is essential that these enterprises are given necessary access to credit and financial assistance. It is hereby declared the policy of the State to protect employment and assist distressed enterprises to reinvigorate the economy,” the measure stated.
The authors said the bill would strengthen the capacity of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to provide the needed assistance to MSMEs.
The President may increase the bank’s capitalization upon recommended of its board and the concurrence of the secretary of finance. Land Bank would be mandated to rediscount loans to eligible MSMEs.
The proposed law appropriates the amount of P10 billion for the expanded lending program: P2.5 billion for DPB and P7.5 billion for Land Bank.
The Department of Finance, together with Land Bank, DBP, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and the Securities and Exchange Commission would be mandated to issue implementing rules and regulations.
The House of Representatives also passed the proposed Waste Treatment Technology Act, which seeks to regulate the disposal, treatment and processing into useful product of municipal and hazardous wastes.
The lower chamber approved House Bill (HB) 6444 by a 244-3-1 vote. The bill was a consolidation of 14 related measures, including one authored principally by Romualdez.
The proposed law would repeal Section 20 of Republic Act (RA) 8749, otherwise known as the Clean Air Act of 1999.
The section banned the incineration or burning of municipal and hazardous wastes and the phaseout of incinerators.
In seeking to allow the burning of waste, the authors of the consolidated bill said new technologies have emerged since the enactment of RA 8749, such as converting trash into energy.
“Waste-to-energy (WTE) or energy-from-waste is the process of generating energy in the form of electricity heat from the incineration of waste. WTE technologies that process non-renewable waste can reduce environmental and health damages while generating sustainable energy,” they said.
They said the repeal of Section 20 in the Clean Air Act of 1999 would pave the way for “modern options in solving the persistent garbage problem of our country and in the process attract more investors by providing fiscal and non-fiscal incentives.”
HB 6444 would allow “thermal and other treatment technologies for the disposal of municipal and hazardous wastes, or for the processing of waste material for fuel, whether for commercial use or not.”
It would require that such technologies be fitted with equipment that will continuously monitor, record and make publicly available the reported data on their emissions or air pollutant concentrations.
Waste-to-energy conversion proposals would be given priority over other treatment methods. Thermal facilities shall treat wastes at a temperature of not less than 850 degrees centigrade.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) shall be the agency primarily responsible for implementing the proposed law, while the Department of Energy (DoE) would take care of regulations on waste-to-energy facilities.
Local government units (LGUs) would be mandated to promote, encourage and implement a comprehensive solid waste management program that includes waste reduction, segregation, recycling, composting, and recovery.
LGUs would also facilitate the establishment of treatment facilities.
Other relevant agencies to be involved in the implementation of the proposed Waste Treatment Technology Act would be the Department of Science and Technology and the National Solid Waste Management Commission.
The bill directs government financial institutions like Land Bank and Development Bank of the Philippines to “accord high priority in the extension of financial services to individuals, enterprises or private entities engaged in putting up treatment facilities.”
It likewise allows the DoE to grant waste-to-energy projects incentives.
The procedure for the issuance of permits and licenses for waste-to-energy facilities shall be governed by the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop Act and the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.
The DENR and DoE would issue implementing rules and regulations.
Other authors are House Majority Leader Manuel Jose M. Dalipe, and Reps. Yedda Marie K. Romualdez, Jude A. Acidre, Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco, among others.
