The House of Representatives under the leadership of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano is actively working to support the administration to institutionalize the crucial reforms that are vital to deliver the “campaign promises” of President Duterte and sustain economic growth.
The recent SWS survey showed that majority of the Filipinos believes that the President will be able to fulfil most of his promises in the next three years of his term.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano expressed his overwhelming support and commendation to the Duterte administration for making a significant headway in pursuing measures to provide a safer and more comfortable life for the Filipinos.
The administration’s efforts have started to make significant impact with 5.9 million Filipinos pulled out of poverty in 2018, as poverty incidence fell to 16.6 percent from 23.3 percent in 2015.
At the start of the session, the House leaders have reiterated that they will prioritize the passage of the bills creating three key vital departments: Department of Disaster Resilience, Department of Overseas Filipinos and Department of Water.
Speaker Cayetano also vowed to pass priority tax measures . “We have good laws like the Universal Health Care, and Free Tertiary Education Act but we need to ensure that the they are properly funded hence we need to pass all these tax measures,” Cayetano explained.
Last week, the President signed the measure imposing additional excise taxes on alcoholic beverages and e-cigarettes effective January 2020. The new law is set to generate around P24.9 billion in revenues for the government, which will be used for the implementation of the Universal Health Care program, Health Facilities Enhancement Program of the Department of Health and programs seeking to attain the country’s Sustainable Development Goals.
To ensure that the economic growth will be not greatly affected by the recent Taal volcano eruption, Speaker Cayetano has urged his colleagues to help craft long-lasting, reliable solutions, programs and mechanisms to help the country cope with the effects of disaster.
“We need to speed up the rehabilitation efforts so that the government can effectively assist the affected victims and reinvigorate the CALABARZON local economy,” he added.
After the first ever out-of-town plenary Session in Batangas last week, Speaker Cayetano convened a meeting with House Leaders and Committee Chairpersons to discuss the possible sources of the requirements of the recovery and rehabilitation programs for the Taal Volcano victims.
“Tuloy tuloy po ang aming coordination, kasama si Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda, and Chairperson Lucy Torres-Gomez together with the different Chairpersons of Committees like Cong Mark Enverga, Cong. Helen Tan, para i-converge or ipagsama-sama ang suggestions ng lahat ng Kongresista ng CALABARZON para maging effective po ang aming pagtulong-tulong.” Cayetano said.
The House leaders also urged the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) not to repeat the mistakes of the past where the slow pace of utilization caused the money to be reverted to the National Treasury.
Deputy Speaker Legarda assured the concerned local governments directly affected such as Batangas and Cavite that there are available Quick Response Funds, which can be tapped by the different agencies such as Department of Agriculture and Department of Public Works and Highways and there are still unused funds from the 2019 Calamity Funds.
An inclusive anti-poverty program coupled with pro-active and reliable disaster resilience measures, can ensure that the President’s vision of a safe and comfortable life for all Filipinos will be sustainable even in times of disasters or natural calamities.
