Sen. Poe pushes passage of water resources bill

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

BUOYED by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s endorsement of the Department of Water Resources Management (DWRM), Senator Grace Poe prodded her peers Tuesday for Congress to frontload timely passage of its enabling legislation in the lawmakers’ priority agenda, as the Senate and the House buckled down to work following the President’s delivery of his traditional State of the Nation Address (SONA) Monday.

The call for a Water Department comes amid frantic efforts by various agencies, and the two major private water concessionaires, to “address a water crisis that many fear might repeat a 2019 scenario of months of waterless days for many big communities.” “Let us seize the moment stirred by the President’s marching orders to finally pass the Department of Water Resources Management bill.”

In a statement, Poe pointed out “water deserves serious focus and consolidated effort,” stressing that “we must act before the crisis exacerbates.” Moreover, she stressed the urgency of pushing timely passage of the remedial legislation, adding “we hope the push for a Water Department law can take a step forward with an urgent certification from the President.”

While President Marcos did not say in his SONA if he will certify the water bill, he laid down “the importance of a comprehensive approach to the recurring problem of sourcing new water supplies, allocating water, and anticipating issues that could jeopardize the system.”

Marcos added, ”Ang tubig ay kasinghalaga rin ng pagkain. Kailangan nating tiyakin na may sapat at malinis na tubig parasalahatatsamgasusunodnasalinlahi. Kasamanaritoangtubignaginagamitnatin para sa sakahan.”

Considering its fundamental importance, water security deserves a special focus, Poe pointed out “our efforts must not be scattershot, but rather, cohesive, centralized, and systematic.”

Given that urgency, Poe pressed “the need to have created the Water Resources Management Office to specifically handle the delicate job involving this most precious resource.”

We are on target, although our original target was 160 million more or less—that was 160 million of active SIM cards that were sold. We all know that a large portion of that were used for telemarketing or scamming. Realistically, we’re looking at 70 percent. If we look at SIM card registrations from other countries, about 70 percent are legitimate. So we were expecting between 100 million to 110 million revenue generating SIM cards. So at 105 million, we are on target,” he said.

T he NTC noted that public telecommunication entities reported “that almost all of their SIMs with active users have already registered.”

Failure to register SIMs by 11:59 p.m. of July 25 will result in the deactivation of telecommunication and mobile data services including social media access, except for the purpose of having these unregistered SIMs reactivated, but only up to July 30. Access to online banking and other online financial transaction/facility shall also be deactivated. By July 31, all unregistered SIMs will be permanently deactivated and can no longer be reactivated/registered,” the NTC said.

For his part, Uy noted that reactivation of SIM cards is a “more tedious process,” calling on Filipinos to not sell their registered SIM cards to other people.

“Do not sell your credentials. We received reports and arrested some groups in possession of SIM cards that have been registered by people and they sell those SIM cards to criminal organizations that have been used for scamming,” he said.

House vows to pass SONA 2023 priority measures until December

HOUSE leaders on Tuesday expressed confidence the lower chamber would wrap up the final approval of SONA 2023 priority measures before the yearend—four before the congressional recess in October and the other six in December.

Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez said he has already approved on third and final reading seven of the 17 priority measures that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. requested Congress to pass in his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday.

“I am extremely confident that the House of Representatives would again rise up to the occasion and accept the challenge from our President: to pass the 17 priority measures needed to sustain our economic recovery and improve the living condition of our people,” Speaker Romualdez said.

The list of 17 SONA priority measures, he noted, does not include the proposed 2024 national budget, which the Executive department will submit to Congress sometime next month.

Romualde z explained the House may need to work double time in order to meet their self-imposed deadline of approving the 2024 appropriations bill as well as the 17 SONA priority measures before the end of the year 2023.

The seven SONA priority measures that were already approved by the House of Representatives on third and final reading are: House Bill No. 4102 or Single-Use Plastic Bags Tax Act; House Bill No. 4122 or An Act Imposing Value-Added Tax on Digital Transactions; House Bill No. 6716 or An Act Mandating the Establishment of Fisherfolk Resettlement Areas by the Department of Agriculture; Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Local Government Units; House Bill No. 7393 or Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act; House Bill No. 7006 or Automatic Income Classification Act for Local Government Units; House Bill No. 8203 or Bureau of Immigration Modernization Act and House Bill No. 4125 or Ease of Paying Taxes Act.

The four SONA priority measures for approval by October are: Anti-Agricultural Smuggling; Amendments to the Cooperative Code; Tatak Pinoy and Blue Economy.

The six remaining priority measures for approval by December are: Motor Vehicle User’s Charge; Military and Uniformed Personnel

(MUP) Pension; Revised Procurement Law; New Government Auditing Code; Rationalization of Mining Fiscal Regime and National Water Act. House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Elizaldy Co has firmly supported these priority bills as they align closely with his vision of fostering economic growth, strengthening the agricultural sector, and empowering the Filipino people.

Amendments to the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act: Amendments of the BOT Law/ PPP bill: Public-Private Partnerships [PPP] play a vital role in driving infrastructure development and economic progress in the country. I recognize the importance of enhancing the BOT Law to streamline PPP processes and attract more private investments, ultimately benefiting the Filipino populace through improved infrastructure and services,” emphasized Co. “I firmly believe in the potential of these priority bills to drive our nation forward and uplift the lives of our fellow Filipinos. As a public servant, I recognize the urgency and significance of these bills, and I pledge to actively participate in legislative discussions, build consensus, and advocate for the adoption of these crucial measures,” said Co. For his part, C amarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte sought full support from the Congress and the public for Marcos’ plan to sustain and even level up public investments in six priority areas to fulfill his 2022 campaign.

V illafuerte said “higher spending on the President’s six priority concerns— infrastructure, food security, job generation, health care, education and social protection for the poor and other vulnerable sectors— will let the Chief Executive deliver on his goal that—in Mr. Marcos’ own words in his second SONA—Sa ating pagtahak sa kaunlaran, walang mamamayang Pilipino angmaiiwanan.”

He called on his fellow lawmakers in both the House and the Senate to support the passage of the 17 measures that the President endorsed for urgent action in his second SONA, of which 10 are new ones that are not on the expanded list of 44 priority bills that the Chief Executive and the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) had drawn up after he assumed office last year.

This has brought the number of priority bills at the start of the Congress’ second regular session to 54 Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

Wednesday, July 26, 2023