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Minutes of the SECOND LEDAC Meeting Summary of Discussions and Agreements
Presiding
Officer
With Her Excellency, President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo presiding, the LEDAC meeting was called to order
at 12:00 noon. Secretary Jose Isidro N. Camacho of the Department of
Finance (DOF) led the opening prayer. Attendance
The
following government officials attended the meeting: A.
Executive 1.
Her Excellency, President GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO
B. Senate
9.
Senate President FRANKLIN M. DRILON. C.
House of Representatives
10.
House Speaker JOSE DE VENECIA D. Private Sector Representative
12.
Mr. GUILLERMO M. LUZ (Makati
Business Club) E.
Invited
Executive Branch Officials 13.
Secretary RAUL S. ROCO (DepEd) F.
Invited
Legislators
20.
Senator BLAS OPLE G.
Other
Officials 24.
Undersecretary ERNESTO ORDONEZ (DA) H. NEDA/LEDAC Secretariat
33.
Director SOCORRO V.
ZINGAPAN I.
Presidential
Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) 42.
Ms. IRENE AFORTUNADO J.
Presidential
Management Staff (PMS)
44.
Mr. ANTONIO AVEDAÑO K.
Others
47.
Ms. SUSAN T. BULAN (CPBO-HOR) Agenda
The
meeting had the following agenda:
Agenda Item
Presented By I. FOR ADOPTION/APPROVAL
Minutes of the Previous Meeting II. FOR INFORMATION
Status of Preparations for the
NEDA (Presentor)
National Socio-Economic Summit III. FOR DISCUSSION Draft Summit Pact Executive Secretary ALBERTO G. ROMULO IV. FOR INFORMATION a. Senate Legislative Agenda Senate President FRANKLIN M. DRILON b. House Legislative Agenda House Speaker JOSE DE VENECIA, JR. V. OTHER MATTERS 1. CALL TO ORDER 1.1 After calling the meeting to order, the President welcomed the members of the LEDAC. She thanked the members of the Council for their support in the convening of the Council at such short notice. She explained that the Cabinet had in its recent meeting, refined the Executive Branch's positions regarding the proposed conclusions of the Economic Summit. The LEDAC meeting will, thus, be focused on forging a common position for the government involving both the executive and the legislative branches as well as the private sector. 1.2 The President extended her gratitude to everyone for the excellent preparatory work rendered for the forthcoming Summit. She emphasized that the Summit is not a one day activity, rather it involved several extensive discussions leading to a final summit. Deliberations and the results of the work of the various working panels have been very transparent and properly communicated to the public. She expressed her satisfaction over the response of the public who are happy with the substance of what have been communicated to them so far. The President thanked Senator Ople who initiated the conduct of the Summit and she expressed the hope that such cooperation would continue. 1.3 The President also took the opportunity to thank the members of Congress for the confirmation of seven (7) Cabinet members, several ambassadors particularly the envoys for Pakistan and the United States and several Generals. The President then called on the Senate President and the Speaker of the House to make their preliminary statements. 1.4 Senate President Drilon thanked the President for convening the LEDAC. He supported the President’s pronouncement that indeed there is a need for consistency in the policy pronouncements of the Executive and the Legislative branches of government. LEDAC, he stated is the appropriate venue for this and it really serves its purpose in molding public policy and effecting unity of policies between the two political branches of government. He informed the Council that the Senate held a workshop to identify the priority legislative agenda of the Senate in support of the Economic Summit. He would present the results of that workshop later in the meeting. 1.5 House Speaker De Venecia, after thanking the President, expressed hope that the discussions and agreements in this Council meeting would contribute strongly to the success of the forthcoming Socio-Economic Summit. He thanked Senator Ople for his initiative and the President for her quick response. He informed the body that the House of Representatives have prepared its own legislative proposals for submission to the LEDAC. The proposals were the result of a Legislator's Workshop held last August 16-17, 2001. He reiterated the necessity for converging both the Senate and the House Legislative Agenda with all of the commitments under the Summit. He informed the body that the House has continued to dialogue on its legislative priorities in consultation with key members of the Executive specifically Finance Secretary Jose Camacho, Bangko Sentral Governor Rafael Buenaventura, NEDA Director General Dante Canlas as well as the private sector. 2. ADOPTION
OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING. 2.1
The first order of business was the adoption of the minutes of the
previous LEDAC meeting. Executive Secretary Alberto G. Romulo moved for
the adoption of the minutes which was seconded by Senate President Drilon.
There being no objections, the minutes of the previous LEDAC meeting were
adopted by the body. 3. The Status of
Preparations for the National Socio-Economic Summit of 2001
3.1 Executive Secretary Alberto G. Romulo, as Chair of the Summit Executive Committee (Exe-Com), reported on the fruitful and productive discussion during the Executive Committee meeting held the other day which was coordinated by NEDA and participated in full force by the heads of the executive and the legislative branches of government including the business sector and people organizations. Likewise, he informed the body of the request of the leaders of both Houses to submit their legislative agenda to serve as inputs to the Summit Pact and not be submitted ceremonially on the day of the Summit itself as earlier planned. He explained that converging the agenda of both houses of the legislature with the agenda for the Summit would put into effect a national unity course of action which is more in keeping with the objectives of the Summit, thus, the LEDAC was convened for this purpose. Briefly he reported that the Executive Committee Meeting the other day, was focused on the urgent, doable and practical measures that may be implemented within the next six (6) months particularly those relating to employment generation in view of the massive job displacements and those directed at alleviating poverty. 3.2 Secretary General Dante B. Canlas of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) presented an update on the status of preparations for the National Socio-Economic Summit of 2001 (NES of 2001). He informed the group that there are twelve (12) Working Panels that started work during the month of November and completed their Sectoral Action Agenda last November 28. The Regional Development Councils (RDCs) were also convened and they provided their inputs which were forwarded to the various working panels. 3.3 He further informed the body that a Summit Drafting Committee, reporting to the Executive Committee, was formed and said Committee has drafted the Summit Pact which was presented to the Summit Executive Committee during its meeting the other day. The Summit Pact was reviewed and approved by the Executive Committee subject to the incorporation of the suggested revisions. One feature of the Pact, he said is that it will include as annexes the legislative inputs coming from both chambers of congress and the long list of the Sectoral Action Agenda. He ended by presenting the highlights of the program for the December 10 Summit. 4. Draft
Summit Pact
4.1 Executive Secretary Alberto G. Romulo informed the body that the
Summit Executive Committee had reviewed the Pact line by line in its
meeting of 05 December 2001. He then called on Secretary Canlas to proceed
with the presentation of the
Summit Pact and the Action Agenda of the twelve (12) Working Panels. 4.2 Secretary Canlas explained that the Pact is outlined to include the
preamble followed by the general directions of the signatories
together with the pledge to
do a set of commitments then the listing of the action agenda that is
expected to be accomplished within the next six months. He proceeded by
reading the highlights of the action agenda by sector and comments were
raised after each sector. Summary of Discussions Monitoring 4.3 In response to the proposal for the formation of a small group that will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Summit commitments, the President said that the system of Presidential Advisers/Presidential Assistants that she has instituted will be tasked to do this. She informed Congress that she has in fact abolished all the clusters because they do not work. She explained that committees work only during the meeting and not in between and after the meeting, as most often subordinates who are not in a position to make decisions are sent to attend these meetings. Thus, she stated that coordinative work among allied departments could best be handled by the PA’s who do not hold line functions and can therefore devote their time in monitoring the accomplishments of agencies within their area of responsibility. Upon the suggestion of Mr. Guillermo Luz, private sector representative, to make the monitoring system more encompassing such that it will include the private sector and other stakeholders, the President instructed Secretary Garchitorena of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) to form a Monitoring Committee with the Presidential Advisers as members including representatives from civil society and the business sector. Accordingly, PMS was tasked to take the lead in monitoring the implementation of the Summit Commitments and to make regular reports to the Council in addition to the monitoring of the SONA commitments. Financial and Fiscal 4.4 It was pointed out that the phrase "review of big ticket items in the budget with significant tax evasion" is not very clear. The President suggested that it be rephrased to “ review of big contracts reflected in the budget with significant tax leakages”. She also instructed that there is a need to study and work out the technical obstacles to withholding a source of revenue and on the basis of which propose the needed legislation, if need be, to address this problem. 4.5 With regard to the Special Purpose Asset Vehicle (SPAV) Act, Secretary Camacho assured that the intent of their proposals are consistent with the bills filed by Senate President Drilon and House Speaker De Venecia specifically on the provision that there should be no government subsidy. They have, however, added some refinements such as the exemption should only cover transfer costs of assets from one institution to another and not the income itself that is derived from the business of SPAV. Agricultural and Rural
Development 4.5
The President pointed out the
need to reorient Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) back to its original
purpose of supporting land reform and that it should leave SME’s to
SME’s, corporate agriculture to the
commercial banks under
the Agri-Agra Law, and housing to other GFIs. Thus, it was agreed that the
institution of reforms at the LBP will be restated to
stress the reduction of red tape and increasing the share of agriculture
in the LBP loan portfolio and refocusing on agrarian reform farmers
consistent with the main mandate of the LBP. Trade and Industry 4.6 As a result of the deletion of the statement supporting SME’s as part of the LBP reorientation under Agriculture and Rural Development, the President agreed that the phrase “Support to SMEs” be included under Trade and Industry as follows: “Support SME’s by streamlining business documentation requirements, strengthening of the guarantee fund system and developing on-line credit application systems”. The President stressed that the guarantee fund system should be tied up with a small business window. 4.7 In view of the limited commercial bank operations in micro finance, the President suggested the inclusion of a policy measure to promote micro finance banks in all provinces. If necessary, she stated that the inclusion of a legislative measure to make this policy operative and to take into account the unique needs of micro finance be taken into account as well. 4.7.1 Relative to the issue on the need for an effective Anti-trust legislation in the country to promote fair trade, it was agreed that it will be included in the Long List of Agenda which serves as an Annex to the Summit Pact. Secretary Canlas explained that the priority list per sector as highlighted in the Pact include only those short term measures that are implementable within the next six months. He further clarified that the Summit Pact has some flexibility should there be a need to formulate supplementary agreements and guidelines. Thus, should this concern on anti-trust legislation become a priority later on then it could be moved up in the updating of the Summit Pact. 4.9. With regard to the issues raised by Senate President Drilon on the high cost of domestic airline shipping, the need to revisit the Cabotage law and the air cargo liberalization which greatly affect the trade and tourism industry, Deputy Director General Lotilla informed the body that these are included in the Long List of Agenda of the Infrastructure Panel. Relative to the revision of the Cabotage Law, the President suggested that this has to be resolved with the airline and shipping sector as it is a question of their survival versus the convenience of the public . The President encouraged the legislature to come up with a stronger advocacy on this so that they will be able to garner the support of the private sector for the passage of a bill amending the Cabotage Law. Mr. Concepcion offered to assist by discussing the matter with Mr. Ito Carlos who headed the Working Group which handled this matter during the term of President Ramos. Tourism-Related Industries 4.10 Relative to the query raised regarding the channeling of travel taxes, it was made clear that it not only goes to the National Treasury, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Commission on Higher Education, and National Parks Committee, but also for tourism related activities. However, the percentage that goes to tourism has drastically dwindled through the years from 40% to the present 27%, thus the proposal to re-channel forty percent (40%) of travel tax for tourism-related projects and programs. 4.11 On the incentives extended for starting a tourism industry such as a resort or a hotel development project, Mr. Guillermo Luz further suggested that the operators of these tourist facilities be made eligible to avail of said incentives again when they are remodeling or renovating their business establishments after a period of years. This would encourage the operators to keep reinvesting and improving their facilities and thereby attracting more tourists. It was agreed that this will be included as part of the package to rationalize incentives under this sector. Labor and Employment 4.12 In relation to the program on strengthening Quick Response Teams (QRTs) to address the needs of workers, the President noted that QRTs are focused on industrial disputes and does not address the need of displaced workers who lost their jobs because of business closure or as a result of strikes. She suggested that the conduct of massive skills training and retraining should also be included in the priority to equip workers with the required skills. Infrastructure 4.13 Secretary Camacho noted that the appropriate solid waste projects have been long identified, thus, the priority action is to move toward implementation of the identified waste disposal projects. The President strongly supported this and suggested that it should be rephrased into "Unlocking of bottlenecks in the implementation of identified solid waste disposal projects, including social acceptability and legal obstacles." Housing 4.14 The President agreed with Secretary Camacho’s observation that the main constraint is not the funding for housing programs but the affordability, specifically the need to find end user financing for those who cannot afford the house. Sec. Camacho pointed out that most banks including SSS, DBP and LBP have on lending facilities but they do not want to take the credit risk, thus there is a need to provide subsidy to homebuyers or change the scheme all together and encourage more rentals because it is what the people can afford. Speaker De Venecia added that it should be rental with option to purchase. Rep. Jaruala further suggested that other schemes which will encourage local government units (LGUs) to acquire land for informal settlers similar to what he had done in Cagayan de Oro, be likewise considered. Senate President Drilon agreed with the proposal as he did something similar in Iloilo City. Thus, the body agreed that the promotion of rent-to-own and other similar schemes for housing would be one of the priorities. 4.15 In addition to the rent-to-own scheme, it was suggested that a strategy be likewise adopted to address long term financing for the initial down payment to potential homebuyers. Thus, it was agreed that the passage of a legislation on the indexation of sin taxes and earmarking of P5 billion of the national government’s share for the subsidy for socialized housing be included as another priority. 4.16 On the issue regarding the renewal of the Rent Control Law which is about to expire by end of December, the President opined that it will just result in urban blight and reduce the quantity supply of decent households, and that it is anti-poor. Senator Drilon informed the Council that a similar view came out in the Senate workshop. Education 4.17 The President suggested that the item on providing private education institutions with access to Official Development Assistance (ODA) be included as part of a similar strategy on ODA access under the Financial and Fiscal sector. Secretary Roco clarified that the issue confronting their sector is that private universities are not allowed by government to access concessional loans under ODA without government guarantees, and that the private universities clamor is for government to allow them to have direct access and let them deal with the requirement for government guarantees. Secretary Camacho responded that the problem is not on allowing them to have direct access but donors would surely not lend them without the needed government guarantees. Secretary Canlas confirmed the point raised by Secretary Camacho. As an alternative, he informed that there were initiatives during the previous administration to take on loans for re-lending to tertiary education but it did not pick up. This can be further pursued by continuing to submit proposals to World Bank and other multilateral institutions for re-lending to private universities so that they can get some of the concessionalities under official development assistance. Secretary Roco countered that what the private universities are clamoring for is not enhancement of the re-lending schemes but for them to be given direct access to ODA and they will deal with the rest of the donor requirements. The President instructed that the matter be studied and taken into account if possible. Health and Other Services 4.18 With regard to the item on expanding the services under the National Health Insurance Program, the President expressed the greater need to expand the coverage rather than the services on basic health. She stressed that it is more important to widen the coverage for the delivery of basic health services to as many people as possible, rather than to focus on providing quality service for only a few people. Secretary Canlas affirmed that focus should really be on expanding the coverage consistent with what the President committed under the SONA, as well as with the targets under the MTPDP, which stipulate that the long term vision is universal coverage for this type of programs. 4.19 On the reduction of prices of medicines used commonly by the
poor, the President reiterated
her earlier pronouncement that what is meant by affordable medicine is
very specific which is the reduction of prices by
one half of the prices as of July
2000 or the same price as other countries. Senate President Drilon pointed
out the need for the full cooperation of the private sector as they are
the one’s resisting this policy. He stated that the multinationals
have practically placed road blocks on this matter. The President
informed that she had communicated to the multinational companies on this
and they are willing to accept, provided there is a major overhauling of
the systems and procedures at the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD)
specifically the long delay in the registration process. The
President instructed Secretary Dayrit to attend first to the problem on
the processing time and all the needed restructuring of
BFAD before the government can
compel the multinational firms to reduce their prices. 4.20 Secretary Canlas noted that it may be useful for
Secretary Roxas to update the Council about the efforts on
parallel imports for pharmaceutical drugs because Senate President
Drilon is right about the multinationals putting all the blockage like
intellectual property and patents law on the government’s
attempts to put up parallel imports. 4.21 Secretary Roxas apprised the body that the Department of
Trade and Industry, in close coordination with Department of Health (DOH),
is expanding its parallel import of drugs to India from an initial list of
eight (8) to thirty (30) drugs which address a broader range of illnesses.
He stated that DTI has already submitted samples of the drugs to BFAD for
certification, after which, these imported drugs will be distributed
through the 600 government hospitals. Further, in line with the devolution
of health services, he
informed that DTI will also make available these drugs to the
local government units and the Congressmen where they may use their
IRA and CDFs for the purpose. They are also increasing the distribution
points by bringing it to the private sector but only up to a certain level
at this point while the credibility of the program is still being
established. As part of the instruction of the President, he assured that
there is that declaration that the government may insist on either
parallel importation or mandatory licensing for the manufacture of
products for health care purposes. 4.22 Rep. Salceda broached the idea of maximizing the options
afforded by the WTO
and for the body to think about what pandemic/s can be cited in
order to do mandatory licensing. Secretary Roxas responded that the WTO
declaration is much more
liberal because it is not limited to pandemics or crisis situations and
that governments are allowed to define what is in its health care
imperatives. The President responded that she does not have any problems
on this, but there is a need for government to clean up its acts first
because this will hit the pharmaceutical industry, and its hard to do so
if government has not done the reforms that they are demanding
particularly the restructuring of BFAD and the need to cut their
processing time for registration and approval .
4.23 To facilitate BFAD’s procedures, Mr. Concepcion suggested
for the adoption of the US Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA)
standards, and if there are difficulties in the testing the government may
consider outsourcing this to US-FDA, if it is possible. The President
responded that government should begin by restructuring BFAD and the rest
will follow. Secretary Dayrit informed that eventually the long term
solution is the FDA harmonization. He
explained that with the globalization initiatives,
the ASEAN regions will be harmonizing all their FDA regulations so
that eventually if one product is registered in the Philippines, it would
be registered in all the other ASEAN regions and vice versa. To date, he
said that the different countries have yet to achieve consensus on
procedures. While waiting for
the ASEAN harmonization, the President instructed Secretary Dayrit
to proceed by considering the possibility of undertaking a
unilateral harmonization of its procedures
with that of Singapore. 4.24 In addition to information provided by Secretary Roxas on
the efforts for parallel importation of drugs, Secretary Dayrit explained that DOH is expanding the public
sector distribution system where they are targeting 600 government
hospitals where the medicines will be available to the public at half the
price. Likewise, they are expanding the barangay system as distribution
outlet for outpatient medicines plus the rolling stores. He stated that
their strategy is to first expand the public sector distribution system,
then eventually move to the entry of the private sector retail system
until such time that they are able to fix the regulatory aspect. 4.25 Secretary Dayrit pointed the need to reflect the concerns of
the vulnerable groups
especially the women and the indigenous people particularly with respect
to abuses against women. He then presented for consideration the proposal
from the women’s group for the creation of a council to oversee violence
against women and children with membership from different government
agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) . The President agreed
that addressing the needs of the vulnerable groups should also be included
as another priority under the Health Sector but she is not in favor of the
creation of a council. Instead she proposed that she will direct the
strengthening of the oversight
functions of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) in implementing measures to curb violence against women, and
likewise the relevant government departments and agencies will be directed
to give their support for this undertaking. Peace
and Order and Security 4.26 The President expressed her disagreement over the proposed
creation of only one focused group against kidnap for ransom (KFR)
and against illegal drugs in lieu of existing Task Forces.
In the case of KFR, she emphasized that there are so many KFR
gangs, thus you need all the different
task forces under NACC who have their respective jurisdictions. As for
illegal drugs she stated that you need checks and balances to avoid
corrupting the whole structure. She stressed that when you have a lot of
criminals, there is a need for redundancy in structures to combat crimes,
thus it cannot be treated as a business of bureaucracy where you have to
streamline. Secretary Angelo Reyes concurred with the President,
explaining that there is really no homogenous group for kidnap for ransom,
hence jurisdiction over the cases will
depend on the perpetrators that you deal with. For instance, he cited that
if it is perpetrated by large organized armed groups such as the MILF or
Abu Sayaf, then this is the responsibility of the Armed Forces, while if
it involves only one solitary kidnapping case by a small kidnap gang, then
the PNP assumes responsibility.
4.27 Rep. Salceda pointed out that most of the action agenda
items under this sector are already being done. The President acknowledged
this and suggested that her fourteen (14) point program for improving the
peace and order situation which she presented to the Chinese community
be adopted by identifying only three (3) of the most important
points out of the fourteen for inclusion in the Summit Pact. She strongly
suggested the inclusion of the integration of intelligence activities
which has not been carried out. Relative to this, she informed that the
holding of an intelligence summit might also be undertaken
4.28 House Speaker de Venecia proposed that the reward systems for information on drug syndicates, kidnap-for-ransom groups, terrorists, including coup plotters be highlighted also as a priority. In fact, he informed that Congress has approved the allocation of three hundred million pesos in the budget as a reward fund for those who will provide information on criminal activities including coup attempts. The President supported this saying that the reward system is also part of her fourteen point agenda, and she has likewise allocated one hundred million pesos for this. 4.29 Rep. Salceda proposed for the issuance of an EO that will make all
barangay tanods as persons of authority but not necessarily to carry guns.
The President responded that one of her fourteen point agenda already
include community oriented police system where civilians are deputized
including the right to carry guns and the police are providing the
requisite training for the deputization. She said that the police may not
be able to train all the 450,000 barangay tanods and it may not be
possible to automatically make all these barangay tanods as persons of
authority. 4.30 Mr. Bill Luz of the private sector supported Secretary Roxas suggestion for the stricter implementation on the permit to carry guns as he observed that, based on records, gun related violence dropped significantly during certain election periods when the permit to carry guns was strictly enforced. The President, thus agreed that there would be more deputization of civilians but this will be coupled with stricter implementation on the permit to carry guns and other safeguards. 4.31 Undersecretary Ernesto Ordoñez of the Department of
Agriculture (DA) informed the Council that smuggling was one of the major
recommendations identified by their panel on Agriculture and Rural
Development for inclusion under peace and order concerns. It was agreed
that smuggling be included likewise under the mechanisms to improve
systems for law enforcements on
KFR, drug syndicates, terrorists, etc. Good
Governance 4.32 Relative to the requirement for the submission of financial statements, Mr. Luz clarified that it was not a matter of asking associations to require their members to submit audited financial statements because they have no legal power over their members. Rather, he said that it was meant for the banking system to require the audited financial statement as submitted to the BIR as one of the documents to be reviewed upon lending. Secretary Camacho responded that it will accordingly be rephrased but they will have to check this first with Governor Rafael Buenaventura because it will be BSP which will require all the financial institutions under its supervision to require audited financial statements by certified public accountants to be the basis for their credit evaluation. 4.33 Senate President Drilon queried as to whether there were proposals for strengthening ombudsman with media. Mr. Concepcion responded that there was a suggestion to call for a moratorium on adversarial politics and negativism, but not specific to media but to all sectors. He suggested that a polite language on this may be included as one of the preambles since this is a summit of unity. Undersecretary Lotilla of NEDA mentioned that this is already included in the draft Socio-Economic Pact and he read it for the body. The body reacted that the language was too polite 4.34 House Speaker De Venecia specified that what may be needed is a political summit which he has already proposed to Senator Ople. In the meantime, he suggested that the Socio-Economic Pact should already include a specific reference to the need to remove the poison in the political atmosphere because it has become too adversarial. Mr. Luz added that it would really be good to include direct reference to the need to ease out the political tensions. He said that a specific commitment to stop or ease the political tension would be seen as a very positive signal and would give a stronger sense of optimism to the people. To emphasize his point, he stated that the government has a lot of accomplishments but these are overshadowed or negated by all these political tensions that are widely disseminated by the media. 4.35 The President requested Senator Ople to comment on this in recognition of the fact that he was the brainchild of the Socio-Economic Summit. Senator Ople emphasized that the Summit was a nonpartisan effort and he was indeed elated that the Summit was successful in getting representation from all the major political groups in the country. He welcomed the idea of a political Summit but this may be more controversial, thus, would require all of the political engineering skills of the House Speaker. He informed that in the Senate, they exert effort to enter in to a spirit of harmony and admitted that the level of personal tensions in the Senate was a little higher than usual. He himself will look forward to the political summit but he cannot, at this time, bind his political party into any agreement. However, he said that he can honestly and candidly share his own thoughts with them on the need for national unity and solidarity. He said that the proposal to include a commitment to ease out the political tension may be considered as one of the preambles in the Pact. 4.36 With regard to Secretary Canlas’ query as to whether the conduct of a political summit within the next six months will be included under Good Governance, the President replied that this should be discussed and cleared with the members of the Executive Committee including its Drafting Sub-Committee. 4.37 Relative to the action agenda on code of conduct of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Secretary Garchitorena raised the recommendation of their panel that the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (a body empowered by the Department of Finance to certify NGOs for tax donee institution status) could expand its reach to already cover all NGOs and foundations. The President said that this may be difficult based on her own observations. Mr. Luz explained that the intent of said action agenda was simply to require CSOs to try to be as equally transparent and accountable in their work as much as they demand the government Revisions
of the Summit Pact and Action Agenda 4.38 Secretary Canlas requested for permission from the Council to revise the Summit Pact and finalize it in accordance with the agreed amendments. The President accorded the Summit Ex-Com together with the Working Panel Chairs and Co-Chairs with the authority to revise accordingly, but she cautioned that the Council should make sure that it is referred back to the stakeholders to ensure that the proposed amendments by LEDAC do not violate the strong beliefs of any of the stakeholders. She emphasized that the process of finalizing the Summit Pact is a constant iteration until the day of the summit itself. 5. Legislative Agenda of Congress Senate
Legislative Agenda 5.1 Senate President Drilon informed the Council that most of the items that he has raised in the meeting already cover the proposals from the Senate and that he has focused only on the short term measures as required under the Summit. He said that he has already submitted a brief summary of the Senate's legislative proposals for incorporation in the Summit Pact. He further informed that the Senate had prepared a longer list of legislative proposals but most are long term measures, thus they will just submit it in future LEDAC meetings. House of
Representatives 5.2 House Speaker Jose De Venecia informed the Council that he has
likewise submitted the summary of the proposals from the House which
resulted from the Legislators workshop held last August. The House Speaker
highlighted two important measures initiated by both the Senate and the
House that he stressed will contribute greatly to our economy. One is the
SPAV bill which he explained would free up to two hundred seventy billion
pesos ( 6. COUNCIL AGREEMENTS 6.1 The Council agreed that the revisions discussed during the meeting will be discussed and cleared with the different stakeholders of the Summit prior to finalization of the Summit Pact and the Action Agenda by the Executive Committee. 6.2 The LEDAC Task-Force on the Common Legislative Agenda (TF-CLA) will be convened to refine and update the Common Legislative Agenda considering all of the different priorities arising from the Summit. 6.3 The Presidential Management Staff (PMS) will form a Summit
Monitoring Committee with membership to be drawn from the Presidential
Advisers and Assistants on the government side together with
representatives from the private sector and Civil Society organizations.
This Committee will make regular reports to the LEDAC. 7. ADJOURNMENT There being no other matters to discuss, the President adjourned the meeting at 3:00 p. m. Prepared
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