The House Ways and Means Committee approved Monday (Aug. 23) the proposed substitute provisions to the bill exempting critical medical supplies, including medical oxygen, from any and all taxes, following a request from President Rodrigo Duterte for Congress to pass such a measure.
House Ways and Means Chair Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda (Albay, 2nd district) said the committee worked on the substitute provisions and inserted them in a similar measure already approved by the tax panel earlier and now pending in the House floor “to expedite the process, given the urgency of the request.”
“We introduced the provisions to a bill already approved by the committee, and principally authored by Rep. Ruffy Biazon. We worked on this over the weekend so we could approve it today,” Salceda said.
The substitute bill exempts [from taxes] the manufacture, importation, sale, and donation of critical medical supplies and essential goods during public health emergencies. The bill mandates the Secretary of Health and Secretary of Finance to draw up the list of goods subject to exemption. The exemptions will require the declaration of a public health emergency by the President after December 2023, but will be in effect until then.
Critical medical products refer to vaccines and other necessary medicines to contain public health emergencies.
Essential goods refer to personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves, gowns, masks, goggles, and face shields; surgical equipment and supplies; laboratory equipment and its reagents; medical equipment and devices; support and maintenance for laboratory and medical equipment, surgical equipment and supplies; medical supplies, tools, and consumables such as alcohols, sanitizers, tissue paper, thermometers, hand soaps, detergents, sodium hypochlorite, cleaning materials, and povidone iodine; testing kits, and such other supplies or equipment as may be determined by the Department of Health (DOH) and other relevant government agencies.
The Secretary of Finance, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and the Secretary of Trade and Industry, may also suspend the threshold on required export sales for availment of privileges under Title XIII of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, to allow manufacturers to sell to the domestic market.
“House Bill No. 8895 was actually already approved by the committee, so we inserted the provisions that would have fit the President’s request, so that we could expedite the process,” Salceda said.
Salceda requested the permission of the principal author to accept the revisions, and to submit the same to the floor for approval.
“As happens when we do amendment by substitution, these revisions will be submitted to the pleasure of the majority, who shall either accept or reject the revisions. Thereafter, we will vote on the measure,” Salceda said.
“I can see this getting to the floor during this session opening. We already emphasized to the Committee on Rules that this is a Presidential request, not to mention an urgent COVID-19 response,” Salceda added. (Office of Rep. Salceda) – jlo
