Statement of SGMA on the appointment of Rep. Karlo Nograles:

My congratulations to the new Cabinet Secretary, Karlo Nograles. I am sure he will do very well in his new position, and that he will be a valuable member of the President's team. I wish him all the best!

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Statement of Majority Leader RGA on appointment of Rep. Karlo Nograles as Cabinet Secretary

 The legislative branch  has  always been a talent farm of the executive . Congressman Karlo joins the long list of lawmakers  tapped for Palace service.  He is  very much  overqualified for the position.  As  head  of the appropriations committee, he brings with him a wealth of experience in  matching public resources with people needs.

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Press Release

Office of Representative Dakila Carlo “Dax” Cua

05 November 2018

DAX CUA FILES BILL FILES BILL TO CUT GOVERNMENT BIDDING TIME IN HALF

Representative Dakila Carlo “Dax” E. Cua filed House Bill Number 8539, which amends Republic Act 9184 and introduces express mode and electronic shopping as alternative methods of procurement.

Express Mode is an alternative method of procurement to public bidding that will allow government to directly procure from a winning bidder that previously won through competitive bidding. To ensure that the government continues to get the best value for money, there will be a challenge period for other interested parties to make better offers.

“A big portion of government procurement is repeated every year. We want to make it easier for government to procure goods and services that it has previously acquired and has knowledge of. That way, government can spend less time on bureaucratic processes and more time in providing services to the people,” said Cua.

Electronic Shopping is an alternative method of procurement to public bidding that utilizes technology to solicit price quotations from rated products. The quotations for rated products shall be the basis of government in selecting the best offer.

“When the Government Procurement Reform Act was passed 15 years ago, popular online shopping platforms like eBay or Amazon were not in existence yet. We’ve seen how technology has made it easy for buyers to do their own research, compare prices, and select the best offer that fits within their budgets. As one of the biggest consumers in the country, government will greatly benefit from an online platform that can facilitate its procurement,” added Cua.

An important component of the online platform is the establishment of a rating system for goods procured by government. Under the rating system, products shall be rated based on its technical specifications and user feedback. When using the online platform, government can easily filter through similar products of different qualities and decide on which product will give best value for money.

“Our procurement law places a heavy burden on procuring entities to do their research and craft specifications accurately. At present, the different government entities work in silos. This leads to work being repeated across different entities. By establishing a rating system together with the online platform, we can have a standardized and transparent database that will prevent one agency from repeating due diligence that has already been done previously,” said.

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REP. CARLOS ROMAN UYBARRETA

1st Consumers Alliance for Rural Energy, Inc.

1-CARE Party-list

Vice Chair, Committee on Energy

Tax relief and cash grants needed to ease the economic pain

TOURIST ARRIVAL LIMITS, STRICT ACCREDITATION MEAN BUSINESS SLOWDOWN IN BORACAY

Tax relief for businesses, residents, and workers in Boracay and surrounding areas has become even more necessary now that it has become clear that tourist arrivals will be limited to Boracay's so-called "carrying capacity" and with new inspections processes government agencies put in place, said Rep. Carlos Roman Uybarreta, author of a bill granting a Boracay tax reprieve.

Uybarreta filed House Bill 8537 which seeks to provide a one-time allowable extraordinary operating loss deduction equivalent to fifty percent of audited operating losses incurred in taxable year 2018.

"Noting the continuing disregard to anti-littering and other environmental laws and regulations, there is an urgent need to impose stiffer fines and other administrative penalties against violators," the congressman said.

According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Boracay has a "carrying capacity of of 19,000 tourists per day or about 55,000 people including residents, workers and tourists."

Meanwhile, the Department of Tourism said on October 25 that it accredited only 157 establishments in Boracay with total combined 7,300 rooms.

"With all these limitations, the financial health of Boracay businesses, employees, and residents will certainly be troubled this year and in 2019. Giving them urgent tax relief will ease the pain they are suffering," Rep. Uybarreta said.

The congressman added that the proposed Boracay Cleanup Shutdown Assistance and Ecological Sustainability Act also has provisions for cash grants for resident households or families of Boracay Island and the Municipalities of Malay and Caticlan in the Province of Aklan.

In HB 8537, the Department of Social Welfare and Development will be tasked to extend a special monthly cash grant in the following amounts:

a) Seven hundred pesos (P700.00) for every household member of families already enrolled in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the DSWD;

b) Five hundred pesos for every household member of families not enrolled in the 4Ps of the DSWD, but whose income are derived purely from monthly compensation income of less than twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00).

Funding for the Pantawid Cash Grants would come from the President’s Social Fund, one percent of the lotto income of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, and from taxes the national government earned from the implementation of Republic Act 10963.    

HB 8537 also creates a Boracay Ecological Sustainability Fund to be jointly administered by a Council made up of the Secretary of Tourism, Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, the chief executives of the barangays of Boracay Island and the municipalities of Malay and Caticlan of the Province of Aklan, and representatives of the local business and civil society sectors.

The fund shall partly finance the Boracay-Malay-Caticlan Sustainability Master Plan formulated and approved by the Fund Council.

Funding for the Boracay Ecological Sustainability Fund shall be derived from a Boracay Sustainability Fee of twenty pesos (P20.00) to be paid by every passenger of airlines and passenger ships traveling to and from Boracay, Caticlan, or Malay.

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HON. BERNADETTE “BH” HERRERA-DY        

Bagong Henerasyon Party-list

Assistant Majority Leader

Chair, Committee on Women & Gender Equality

AIR PASSENGER RIGHTS B

HON. BERNADETTE “BH” HERRERA-DY        

Bagong Henerasyon Party-list

Assistant Majority Leader

Chair, Committee on Women & Gender Equality

AIR PASSENGER RIGHTS BILL AUTHOR HAS GENTLE REMINDER TO AIRLINES, AIRPORTS, AND TRAVELERS

Lots of patience, courtesy, and common sense is the handheld baggage Bagong Henerasyon Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy suggests everyone bring to the airports during the peak air travel season now well underway this last quarter and onward to the first six months of 2019.

"My gentle reminder to all the airlines and airports personnel, as well as to every plane passenger is wear your smile with courtesy and the kindness that is at the heart of the holiday seasons we have in the months ahead of us," Rep. Herrera-Dy said.

She also advised all parties to "be aware of the air passenger bill of rights and to apply the lessons learned from past unfortunate air travel incidents at the airports and on board airplanes."

"The airlines and the airports have the extra burden of having to prevent problematic situations from arising and to exercise maximum tolerance when dealing with irate customers. I ask their top officials to propagate this among their personnel especially those at the frontlines. All of them must be ready," the congresswoman said.

The Bagong Henerasyon Representative said many of the problems during peak travel season can be addressed with "ample preparation and simple courtesy."

"Please no more bomb jokes, bullets as amulets, 'tanim-bala', and disobedience of airport security measures. Discard all those amulets, antics, and bad behavior before you go to the airport," Herrera-Dy also said.

Nine House Bills on air passenger rights have been pending at the House committee on transportation for over a year. Four Senate bills have also been stuck at committee level for just as long.

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REP. RON P. SALO

KABAYAN Party-list

Deputy Majority Leader

P25 MINIMUM WAGE HIKE RECOVERS SOME PURCHASING POWER LOST TO INFLATION

[Another wage hike might be needed if inflation hike persists]

The new P25 increase in minimum wage for Metro Manila will lift some of the financial burden resulting from inflation since last April, KABAYAN Party-list Rep. Ron P. Salo said.

"If a minimum daily wage earner works 20 days in a month, the P25 increase means about P500 for the month. Critics would say that it is too little. Yet, 500 pesos is still 500 pesos and it helps our workers recover some of the purchasing power consumers lost when inflation rose," the House Deputy Majority Leader said.

The legislator said, “the wage increase is in addition to the efforts of the government in improving rice supply and greater access of the poor to discounted basic goods."

"We hope that the Wage Boards in other regions will also immediately follow in issuing the new wage increases to benefit our workers in the countryside," Salo added.

Salo and the late KABAYAN Party-list Rep. Ciriaco Calalang are the authors of House Bill 7527 seeking to legislate a nationwide minimum daily wage of P600.

Salo said, KABAYAN Party-list’s P600 minimum wage proposal is realistic because it is much closer to the current P537.00 NCR daily wage.

“P600 is a proposal, not just to our colleagues here in Congress, but also to the wage boards. We also invite the DOLE and its wage boards to recommend measures they deem are needed to update and upgrade the powers of the regional wage boards,” Salo said.

The lawyer-solon also points out that the law which created the wage boards, was enacted way back in 1988 or 30 years ago, and already requires updating in order to make it more responsive to the needs of the labor sector and the employers.

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REP. HENRY C. ONG

2nd District of Leyte

Chair, Committee on Banks & Financial Intermediaries

Member, Economic Affairs, Trade & Industry, and 9 other committees

With October 2018 inflation staying at 6.7 percent…

RADICAL ANTI-INFLATION MEASURES NEEDED

[Suspend the BIR order on TRAIN Law fuel excise taxes]

“With the October inflation rate staying at 6.7 percent same as last September, there very clearly is a great and urgent need for much stronger anti-inflation measures. I appeal to President Rodrigo Duterte to suspend the BIR regulations implementing the fuel excise taxes of 2018 and 2019,” Rep. Henry Ong said Tuesday morning shortly after government statisticians released the latest inflation report.

The Chair of the House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries said, “while the TRAIN Law had lots of good intentions, it took effect in a perfect storm of high world oil prices and peso depreciation versus the US dollar, so the 3-in-1 mix is what led to the economic mess we are in today. Both the fuel excise taxes this year and next year must be stopped now.”

“President Duterte cannot amend the TRAIN Law because only Congress can do that, but he can order the Department of Finance to suspend the implementing revenue regulations of the BIR while those regulations undergo revisions to cushion the inflationary impact,” the Leyte 2nd District solon said.

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REP. FREDERICK W. SIAO

Lone District of Iligan City

Vice Chair, Committee on Tourism

Member, Mindanao Affairs, Economic Affairs, and 8 other committees      

Breaking News:

ILIGAN CITY SOLON LAUDS DoF ON MARAWI BONDS

Iligan City Rep. Frederick Siao commended today the Department of Finance on its decision to issue P13.5 billion pesos worth of Marawi Bonds Series 1 for the Bangon Marawi rehabilitation program.

"Using the online retail treasury bond format for the Marawi Bonds will enable wide and international participation of ordinary Filipinos and other citizens in the recovery of Marawi," said Rep. Siao who suggested the issuance of Marawi bonds in October last year.

Siao also said he is especially appreciative of the DoF openness to more Marawi bonds in the future.

"Given the global awareness about the plight of Marawi and its surrounding areas, including Iligan City, I am confident the demand for Marawi Bonds will be high and there could very well be over subscriptions," Siao said.

Siao expressed the hope that the Al Amanah Islamic Investment Bank "will have an active role in the promotion of the Marawi Bonds and that Islamic banks that will open up in the future will be invited to participate in the follow-up bond series."

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REP. HARLIN NEIL J. ABAYON, III

AANGAT TAYO Party-list

Deputy Minority Leader

PH BIG ENOUGH FOR 2 TO 4 NEW TELCOs, SAYS RANKING MILLENNIAL CONGRESSMAN

Two to four new telecommunications operators, according to Deputy Minority Leader Neil Abayon, "can fit into the Philippine market and still be profitable."

"All this talk about having just a third telco, in my view, limits our country's growth potentials and consumer options," the 30-year-old solon of party-list AANGAT TAYO said.

Abayon said there is room for more than just three players "given the fact that our country has a number of unused spectrum frequencies, has thousands of telcom dead spots nationwide, and knowing that internet and other technologies can widen our  telcom options."

"We have a fast-growing population and an economy that is expanding by over six percent and can soon level up to middle-income economy status within the next few years," the legislator also said.

So far, as of mid-morning November 7, nine possible bidders remain interested in becoming the third telco in the country. One of the previous ten bidders said it was pulling out of the race.

A published 2017 NTC report showed there are some government agencies and several private sector entities who have assigned but unused and unpaid frequencies.

Republic Act 7925 (Public Telecommunications Policy Act), enacted in March 1995 is the key law governing telecom policy today.

Abayon said RA 7925 "may be overdue for updating and upgrading because it is now over 23 years old. The preparatory studies for amending RA 7925 can be done now."

REP. HENRY C. ONG

2nd District of Leyte

Chair, Committee on Banks & Financial Intermediaries

Member, Economic Affairs, Trade & Industry, and 9 other committees

Make telecom, power lines ‘Yolanda-proof’

BURY TELECOMS, POWER AND CABLE TV LINES UNDERGROUND, REP. HENRY ONG PROPOSES

[Start multi-year underground cabling in Eastern Visayas, other eastern parts of PHL]

Leyte 2nd District Rep. Henry C. Ong proposes to the Department of Energy and to the Department of Information and Communications Technology that all the country's electricity power, communication, and cable television lines be buried underground to avoid or minimize blackouts because of typhoons.

"The only place where our those cables will be protected versus typhoons and floods is underground. We must start doing this in 2019 and onwards as a climate change adaptation and disaster mitigation program, in response to the fact that much of our country is in the path of and is battered by storms all year," said Rep. Ong, Member of the House Committee on Energy and Committee on Information & Communications Technology.

The Leyte congressman said, "it is time we accept our fate as a typhoon-stricken country. Lagi na lang tayong binabayo ng bagyo, nagbabagsakan ng poste, at nalalagutan ng kable. Yung ibang pa bagyo ay sing-lakas pa ng bagong Yolanda. Ito ang mabisa at pangmatagalang solusyon."

Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) struck the Visayas on November 8, 2013.

"This will require massive investments and meticulous planning by both the power and telecoms sectors. It can be done gradually starting with Eastern Visayas, Bicol, northeastern Mindanao, and the eastern seaboard of Luzon because these are the areas  the typhoons hit land at full strength," said Ong.

Ong said underground cabling is already underway in Davao City. "Their experience there can serve as the model or prototype for the rest of the country."