Executive taps Congress to expedite BOT law amendments

The Cabinet is already working with the 16th Congress in firming up changes to the Philippines’ law governing joint public-private projects in a bid to fast-track its approval, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said Tuesday.

A proposed measure amending the decades-old Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) law is among “key legislation” the Aquino administration is pushing for in the remainder of the President's term, Purisima told the attendees of the Euromoney Philippines Investment Forum. This forms part of its larger goal of attracting more long-term investments and addressing joblessness.

Purisima later told reporters that the draft Executive bill has been sent to Congress even as some provisions are still being studied.

“We’re already working with Congress,” he said, noting that the Executive wants the bill to move closer fruition before preparations for the next national elections in 2016 takes the spotlight in both the lower and upper house.

“As you know, next year we'll be closer to 2016,” Purisima said. “And there will be more electoral noise; we'd like to have this done in this Congress.”

Among the key provisions agreed upon is a process of identifying “projects of national” significance, paving way for a new tax regime that would prevent too high a cost for the consuming public.  

Moreover, an option to buy private sector proposals for big-ticket state projects and bid them out to other viable investors was drafted into the Executive-backed bill.

“Obviously, our preference has always been solicited,” Purisima said.

Amendments to the BOT law will ensure that current processes and contracts will be honored in succeeding administration, Cosette Canilao, executive director at the public-private partnership center, earlier told GMA News Online.

At the same forum, President Benigno S. Aquino III said the BOT law amendment will “smoothen working conditions with the private sector.” — BM, GMA News