British Chamber hopes Congress special session to expedite pending legislation

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Following the recent Senate gridlock and official adjournment sine die on 3rd of June, the recent call for a special session scheduled on June 17 by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is expected to fast-track priority legislation on areas such as social protection, healthcare and education to address challenges brought about by the Middle East crisis and the recent earthquake in Mindanao. 

In an official release, the president said that, “The challenges confronting our people demand urgent action…The needs of the Filipino people do not pause when Congress is not in session. The government must continue to respond, and the welfare of every Filipino must remain our highest priority.”

The British Chamber welcomed this development and urged policymakers to fast-track deliberations on other identified priority legislation under the 20th Congress by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) once the session resumes, including the Cybersecurity Act, Digital Payments Act, and Blue Economy Act.

Additionally, the Chamber expressed support for the Open Finance Act, a key measure being supported by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and fintech companies to advance financial inclusion and transparency on customer financial data. 

BCCP Executive Vice Chairman Chris Nelson said in an interview that, “We do strongly urge the key priority legislation because that gives a very important signal, and as we say, we talk about those acts to get through. So hopefully, there will be a special session that the Senate will resume on normal business, and we'll see those legislation passed.”

Nelson emphasized that delays in legislation may have a significant impact on the economy and also mentioned the need to monitor developments and discussions surrounding the impeachment trial which is set to begin on July 6.

Nelson said that market opportunities remain in the Philippines, which are attractive to British companies but emphasized that, “British firms are looking not just at that sector alone, but UK companies are looking at what are the clear areas that they can invest in? What are the rules and the legislation? It is actually setting out what the opportunities are for them, in terms of ownership. We have obviously been looking to push that forward, to further open up the Philippine economy.” 

Disclaimer: This is externally supplied material from a third party and is not a product of reporting or editorial work by the Philstar.com newsroom.