Duterte finally signs anti-red tape bill into law
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte finally signed into law a new anti-red tape bill that would allow him to "expedite" the processing and release of business permits "in times of national calamity."
Malacañang on Tuesday released a copy of Republic Act 11517, a piece of legislation that despite being a priority was only signed by Duterte last December 23, or 3 days before the bill would have lapsed into law based on legislative records.
The new measure gives Duterte the authority to "suspend the requirements for national and local permits, licenses and certifications, and to streamline and expedite the process for the issuance thereof."
This includes rationalizing even local government permits, subject to consultation with local chief executives. Exempted from the measure's scope are environmental clearances which means contentious mining projects stuck in waiting for environmental permits would not gain reprieve with the law's enactment.
It took more than a month for the priority bill to reach Duerte's desk despite Congress doing away with a bicameral conference committee typically convened to reconcile conflicting provisions of two versions of the bill.
But the measure's importance to the Duterte administration cannot be denied. Shortly before the upper chamber passed Senate Bill 1844 on October 14, Duterte himself certified it as urgent, allowing the Lower House counterpart, House Bill 7884, to breeze through the measure’s second and third readings 2 days after.
An offshoot of Duterte’s complaints on slow rollout of telco towers, the bill heeded the chief executive’s request for broader powers to drop permits notorious for blocking the quick rollout of projects like roads, rail, and tollways under the flagship "Build, Build, Build" infrastructure agenda.
Observers earlier said that the delayed enactment of the bill would stall economic recovery from the coronavirus-induced slump. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral
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