Senate to focus on tax reform, money laundering laws as session resumes

The second package of proposed tax reforms and the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) are among the priority legislative measures the Senate will focus on once the session resumes this week, Majority Leader Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri said over the weekend.

In a message to reporters, Zubiri said among the priority measures the Senate will look into are the ratification of the Bicameral committee reports on the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Bill which seeks to lower the corporate income tax to 20%.

Just last week, some 30 business groups expressed their support for the immediate passage of CREATE, seen to boost businesses and attract more foreign investors into the Philippine market.

The session in Congress is scheduled to resume on Monday, January 18, 2021.

Other priority measures include the Coco Farmers Trust Fund and the Confirmation of Imperfect Land Titles, as well as the approval on third reading the amendments to the AMLA.

Aside from these, Zubiri said the Senate will push for measures that were approved on third reading but no have approved counterpart from the House of Representatives:

• Establishment of separate Prison facilities for Prisoners Convicted of Heinous Crimes.
• Lowering the Minimum Height Requirement for Applicants of the PNP, BFP, BJMP, and BuCor
• Protecting Children by Prohibiting and Declaring Child Marriage as Illegal and Providing Programs and Penalties
• Making the position of Cooperatives Development Officer Mandatory in the Municipal, City, and Provincial Levels
• Fixing the Validity Period of License to Own and Possess, Permit to Carry Outside of Residence or Place of Business and Registration of Firearms
• Granting Night Shift Differential Pay to the Government Employees including those in the GOCCs
• Creating a National Transportation Safety Board
• Institutionalizing the Grant of a Teaching Supplies Allowance for Public School Teachers
• Expanding the Use of Legal Assistance Fund
• Establishing the Philippine Energy Research and Policy Institute
• Amending Articles 183 and 184 of Act No. 3815, as Amended Otherwise Known as the Revised Penal Code
• Authorizing the Deptartment of Agriculture to Use the Annual Tariff Revenues in Excess of P10 billion under RA 11203 for Direct Cash Assistance to Farmers Owning 1 Hectare or Less of Rice Land until 2024.

Zubiri added that the Senate will also start discussions on several other issues, including:

1. amendments to Retail Trade Liberalization Act
2. increasing the age of statutory rape
3. amendments to the Public Services Act
4. creation of the department for OFWs
5. the E-governance Act
6. the Military and Uniformed Personnel Services Separation, Retirement and Pension Act
7. the Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Act
8. the Internet transactions Act

— Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/BM, GMA News