This week -- the last session days for the year -- will see the Senate and the House of Representatives ratifying the P2.606-trillion national appropriations for 2015, besides a few other measures certified by Malacañang as “urgent” though excluded from its original list of priorities.

House Majority Leader Neptali M. Gonzales II told reporters on Thursday last week that his chamber will seek “ratification of the 2015 GAA (General Appropriations Act) by Monday,” while Senate President Franklin M. Drilon said in Filipino in a radio interview last Friday: “First of all, we will vote... on Monday... on the bicameral conference committee report (on the GAA).”

Congress starts its Christmas-cum-New Year break on Dec. 20 and will resume session on Jan. 19.

Ratification this week and expected signing into law of the 2015 national budget by yearend, notwithstanding, other priorities identified in June last year by Malacañang and business groups face uncertainty as legislators are expected to be distracted next year by the approach of the 2016 national elections.

Asked whether the start of informal poll preparations could affect the momentum of Congress next year, House Speaker Feliciano R. Belmonte, Jr. acknowledged at the sidelines of a press briefing on Tuesday last week: “That’s very true.”

“There is a certain point... beyond which it will be really difficult to move [on bills],” Mr. Belmonte said partly in Filipino.

“But we are trying to prolong that period as much as possible, perhaps, until the end of the year [2015].”

Filing of certificates of candidacy for the May 2016 national elections is expected within the latter part of the second semester next year.

June last year, the start of the 16th Congress, saw Malacañang submitting a list of 29 priority legislative measures while foreign and local business groups gave a separate but similar list of 34 bills deemed needed to sustain and further spur socioeconomic development. Similarities between the two lists include the proposed anti-trust or fair competition law, rationalization of fiscal incentives, a revised mining fiscal regime, lifting the ban on foreign ships servicing local routes, Bangsamoro Basic Law, and Freedom of Information (FoI) bill, among others. While most have been gaining ground at various stages in Congress, none has been signed into law.

Mr. Gonzales also said last Thursday that the House will approve on third and final reading the P22.468-billion supplemental budget -- which Malacañang certified as “urgent” last week -- that will partly support ongoing state programs and projects left hanging by Supreme Court rulings against their former funding modes.

On Friday, Mr. Drilon also said the Senate will approve today the proposed anti-trust law -- identified as a priority measure by both Malacañang and business -- on third and final reading.

The same measure, however, has yet to be introduced for plenary debates at the House. “We may not be able to start [plenary discussions] on the anti-trust (bill) this year,” Mr. Gonzales said, explaining that his chamber had to first act on both the national and the supplemental budgets since the Constitution provides that state appropriations should emanate from the House.

The House also approved last Dec. 10 the joint resolution arming Malacañang with more options to address a power crisis expected to hit Luzon in March-July 2015 -- tagged as a priority by business -- but Senate leaders have said approval in their chamber will have to wait till end-January.

Despite prospects of legislative inaction next year, some business leaders remained hopeful of a window to approve more reforms.

“While legislative action may slow down next year, especially in the second semester, business trusts that reform bills that support economic growth and the competitiveness of the country will still make it in the first half of 2015,” Henry J. Schumacher, executive vice-president of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, said in a text message.

John D. Forbes, senior adviser of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, said via text his group “remains optimistic that several major reforms can be enacted in 2015”, citing as examples customs modernization, the anti-trust bill, the Bangsamoro Basic Law, and lifting of foreign ownership cap in the Constitution.

“We remain hopeful that Congress will still achieve significant output, especially on FoI, competition policy and customs modernization,” Peter Angelo V. Perfecto, executive director of the Makati Business Club, said via text.

“We share the Speaker’s concern on a possible slowdown of the legislative mill due to elections and shall therefore double our advocacy efforts.”

Business group representatives met with House leaders behind closed doors last Nov. 26 -- their fifth since 2010 -- to get updates on legislative priorities. Foreign business leaders emerging from that meeting said they were “pretty encouraged” and “expect a more productive Congress in the next two years”, but would not expound. A similar meeting with Senate leaders has yet to be held.

In upgrading the Philippines’ sovereign credit rating a second notch into investment standing last Dec. 11, Moody’s Investors Service signaled the need to sustain reform momentum beyond 2016, saying “the main challenge facing Philippine policy makers is sustaining the positive trajectory of institutional quality through the political cycle.” 

Source: Business World Online