No veto of

priority bills
By Keith Galayag and Loila Rodriguez

Leaders from'the Le$islative and

Executive departments have agreed to meet
every month to ensure "tighter coordinationn
and avoid any possibility of a presidehtial
veto, especially on President Rodrigo
MANrr& pHIIPPINES I.WIDNESDAY 7 AUCUST 20le
farn to nge AO

No veto of priority bills Fund,the Act promoting positive
This would smoothen the process and avoid and non-violent discipline,
the unfortunate experiences of having vetoed protecting children from physical,
measures,' especially those declared as priority humiliating or degrading acts as
a form of punishment and the Act
measures by the Executive further strengthening the Office
Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte and
Davao CiW Rep. Isidro Ungab.
Senate President Vicente
nTiton 'Sotto, Senate MajoritY
Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri,
Senators Ralph Recto and SonnY
when they face Senate hearings
on the proposed 2020 national
budget.
Angara, who is also the chair
of the Senate Committee on
Finance, said that the anti-red
includes cutting the number of
n
documentary requirements.
uWhenyou reduce the number
of documents, the speed bY
which an application moJes
increases," Angara said. I

Frun page I bill; popularly known as the
Duterte's priority measures,
House Mqiority Leader and Leyte
Rep. Martin Romualdez said
Tuesday.
The agreement was made
during the small group meeting
of the Legislative-Executive
Development Advisory Council
(LEDAC) with the House
leaders on Monday, according to
Romualdez.
uWe
decided to hotd a regular
monthly meeting, it is jrist a small
nEnd
Endo (end of contract) bill,'
which he earlier declared as a
priority measure.
uWe
are eyeihg zero veto for
all bills to be approved by the
Senate and the House. Hopefully,
we can avoid .any possibitity of
a Presidential veto by working
closely with Cabinet members
and Senate officials,' Romualdez
said.
During, the l?th Congress,
Mr. Duterte exerbised his
veto prerogative on nine bills
of the Solicitor General.
"We were informed by Palace
officials that the Prdsident was
not against the approval of Hopeftrlly, we cen avoid arY
most of the bills. The Executive possibility of a Presidential
department has issues only with
certain provisions which Congxess
could have accommodated
with proper representation and
coordination,' Romualddz said.
ufitis is the reason why we are
no-w adopting best practices from
previous Congresses as well as
innovative mechanisms to avoid
miscommunication between the
palace and Congress,n he added.
The meeting *ar presided by.
Angara also aftended the meeting. tape performance wi[[ now be a
part ofthe budget review and the
key performance indicators that
an agency promises to meet in
exchange for the appropriations
veto by workingl closely it will get.
with Cabinet members and nGovernment agencies would
Senate officials. be asked to specify the stePs
taken to implement the Ease
Romualdei said some of the of Doing Business and Efficient
initial priority measures that the Government Service DeliverY
small group agreed to approve Act of 2018 during finance
immediately include the 2020 committee hearings on the
national budget, creation of the proposed national budget for
Department of overseas FiliPino 2020," Angara said.
workers, amending the Public He added tlat certain
Service Act, higher excise tax ' agencies w9u!d be asked to
We are eyeing zero veto for
all bills to be approved by
the Senate and the House.
The senator noted President
Duterte's fourth State of the
Nation Address, where the Chiefi
Executive said that clearantes
and permits should be out in atj
least three days and revealed thatl
aWorld Bank's 2019 ease of doing
business report, showed the]
Phitippines slipped 1l notchest
from its place at 113 in 2018 to
;
124in 2019. l

group. firis would smoothen the
process and avoid the unfortunate
experiences of having vetoed
measures, especially those
declared as priority measures by
the Executive,n Romualdez said.
approved by both the Senate and
Salvadoi rates on alcohol, institutionalizing present a "before and after" But he stressed that the
the House. ' Executive Secretary
a Department of Finance and
Among these bills are the 2019 Medialdea and attended by House Malasakit Centers and creating timetable on the processing of
speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, Tax Reform for Attracting Better a document, from request to Trade and Industry said the
General Appropriations Act, the government uhas been hard at
Act further strengthening the Bomqaldez, House Minority and High-Quality Opportunities.- release and reminded agencies
Philippine Coconut Authority, Leader Bienvenido uBenny; AngaraonTuesdayalsourged that anti-red tape law does not work in implementing initiatives

Just recently, the president the Act creating the Coconut Abante, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, government agencies to detail only require the ushortenlng to increase the countrY's
of the processing time but competitiveness.'
vetoed the Secur$ of Tenure Farmers and Industry Trust -
Deputy Speaker and Camarines their anti-red tape performance i

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