As the third common session of 18th Congress opens on Monday, Senate will prioritize bills on tax reforms as nicely as the creation of Virology Institute of the Philippines that goals to organize the nation for future pandemics. In a press release, Senate President Vicente Sotto III stated priority bills of the higher chamber embrace: Amendments to the Foreign Investment Acts (FIA), Amendments to the Public Service Act (PSA), Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery (GUIDE), Department of Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act, Package 4 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) or the Passive Income Tax and Financial Intermediary Tax Act (PIFITA), Virology Science and Technology Institute of the Philippines (VIP), Rural Agricultural and Fisheries Development Financing System Act (Agri-Agra) and Package 3 of the CTRP or the Valuation Reform Bill. In the identical press assertion, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri stated they can even concentrate on the passage of Modernization of the Bureau of Fire Protection, Increasing the Statutory Rape Age Act, Military and Uniformed Personnel Insurance Fund Act, Philippine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Act, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Extension Law. Zubiri stated they can even presumably deal with the proposed Bayanihan to Arise as One Act or Bayanihan 3, a stimulus package deal valued at P401 billion. The House of Representatives already accredited the measure on third and last studying in June. Senator Sonny Angara, chair of Senate finance committee, stated “it is the correct time to have hearings on Bayanihan 3” as Congress resumes session. During the session, solely restricted Senate staff are allowed contained in the session corridor. “Like the earlier yr, guests and visitors is not going to be allowed contained in the Senate premises as a consequence of stringent well being protocols and laws. Family members of senators, former senators, authorities officers and media personalities can even not be allowed contained in the gallery corridor,” the Senate assertion indicated. After the picture session of legislators, a web based press convention with the Senate President will probably be happen, “together with some senators who might want to attend the stated briefing.” Sotto will then lead some senators to House of Representatives for a joint session of Congress to listen to President Rodrigo Duterte’s final State of the Nation Address. —LBG, GMA News
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/796710/senate-tags-tax-reform-virology-institute-as-among-priority-bills/story/