Duterte seeks speedy congressional passage of various priority bills

July 24, 2017

President Rodrigo Duterte urged on Monday Congress to pass immediately various priority measures, including reimposition of death penalty, budget for next year, tax reform package and on climate change. Duterte told the joint session of Congress in his second State of the Nation Address "to reimpose death penalty on heinous crimes, especially on trafficking illegal drugs. His call for the revival of capital punishment was also made during his first SONA last year. "Capital punishment is not about deterrence, it's retribution," he stressed. He said the Philippines is guided by Revised Penal Code in dealing with offenders. "In the Philippines, it's an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," Duterte said. Duterte also urged the Senate to immediately pass the first package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program - the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act . According to the Department of Finance, TRAIN is crucial to the financial sustainability of the government’s ambitious agenda to sustain the country’s growth momentum and accelerate poverty reduction via a massive spending on infrastructure, human capital and social protection for the poor and vulnerable sectors. "I call on the Senate to support my tax reform in full and with haste," Duterte said. The proposed measure is now pending in the Senate after the House of Representatives passed it. All tax measures originate from the Lower House. The President also formally submitted to Congress P3.767 trillion proposed budget for 2018. Representing 21.6 percent of the projected gross domestic product (GDP) for 2018, the proposed budget is a 12.4 percent increase from the 2017 budget of P3.35 trillion. Duterte also asked lawmakers to pass a law establishing a new department that will address the effect of climate change. "I am calling [on] both houses of Congress to expeditiously craft a law establishing a new authority or department that is responsive to the prevailing 21st century conditions and empowered to best deliver [an] enhanced disaster resiliency and quick disaster response," he said. While the law is being crafted with extreme urgency, he underscored the need to undertake immediate action to ensure disaster resiliency and effective response in the greater Metro Manila area and surrounding provinces. He also directed the Cabinet Cluster on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management to immediately work with concerned local government units, the private sector and the affected communities themselves, in undertaking disaster resiliency measures, antidotes. "We all need to act fast," he said. Duterte also appealed to the legislators to immediately pass the National Land Use Act to ensure the rational and sustainable use of the land and the physical resources, given the competing needs of food security, housing, businesses and environmental conservation. To make the government more efficient, he also sought Congress' "expeditious passage of the Right Sizing of the National Government" Act. He said this will improve the public service by cutting the "excess fat" in the government. (Celerina Monte/DMS)