Palace: No decision yet on bills awaiting Marcos' signature

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has not yet decided whether to approve, reject, or let the bills that are currently on his desk lapse into law, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said Wednesday.

"The President has not indicated either way. So, when we say there are bills pending before the President, as you know, if no action is made, then it will lapse into law," Cruz-Angeles said at a press briefing.

"So there has been no indication. The President has not commented on these bills right now," she added.

Less than two weeks before the end of their terms, former Senate President Vicente Sotto III reported that there were 182 bills, including the controversial Vaporized Nicotine Products Bill, that the Congress had ratified but had yet to be signed by then President Rodrigo Duterte.

A day after he assumed office, Marcos vetoed on July 1 a proposed measure seeking to create a special economic and freeport zone in Bulacan Airport City, which could have made enterprises operating in the area entitled to tax incentives.

In vetoing House Bill 7575, the President said the proposal “significantly narrows our tax base with its mandated incentives applicable to registered enterprises,” which is “contrary to the government’s objective of developing a tax system with low rates and a broad tax base.”

He added that with the bill, the tax system would be rendered incapable of generating a yield sufficient to sustain the country’s social and economic infrastructure as the government would be forced to seek new sources of revenues through additional taxes or borrowings in the future, which could ultimately burden taxpayers.

Citing the Constitution, Cruz-Angeles said Marcos had the power to veto bills that were passed by the 18th Congress, which ended last month, including the bill on the Bulacan Airport City economic zone.

"The Constitution is very clear that they have no indication as to whether it's the sitting president or the former president who can sign a bill into law. Since there is no distinction made in the constitution, neither do we make such a distinction. So the president can veto. That is the stand," she said.

The Palace official was reacting to Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero's statement that the veto was a "unique legal quandary" as it is not certain if Marcos could reject a proposed law that was passed by the previous Congress.

"I am uncertain if PBBM can veto a bill passed by the 'previous' Congress (when he was not yet President). If he can’t sign it (because the signatories will be composed of past/present officials that didn’t serve at the same time), can he veto it? [It's] a unique legal quandary," Escudero, a lawyer, said in a tweet.

Escudero's position was echoed by Senator Imee Marcos, the sister of the newly installed president.

"In fact, this is one of those bills that have fallen [by] the wayside kasi hindi naabot ni Presidente Duterte at hindi rin nag-lapse into law [on] July 3," Imee said in an interview on Monday, referring to the Bulacan Airport City economic zone bill.

(In fact, this is one of those bills that have fallen by the wayside since it never made it to President Duterte and did not lapse into law on July 3.)

"Since the 8th Congress, ang pagkaintindi ko, pag hindi inabutan ng previous Congress, tapos na yon, ire-refile na sa next Congress...Now you have a veto message, kanino ipapadala? Ang tanong ko, dahil na-adjourn na ang 18th Congress, wala pa naman nako-convene na 19th Congress, mayroon bang 18 and a half Congress? Palagay ko wala," she added.

(Since the 8th Congress, if a bill did not pass in the previous Congress, it must be reintroduced in the next Congress, according to my understanding. Now you have a veto message. To whom are you going to send it? My question is, since the 18th Congress has already adjourned and the 19th Congress has yet to convene, is there an 18 and a half Congress? I believe there is no such thing.)

The lawmaker said that Congress should not be deprived of the constitutional power to override the veto of the President.

Cruz-Angeles earlier said Marcos supports the creation of a special economic zone and his decision to veto the bill was meant to cure the defects found in the proposed measure. —VBL, GMA News