Salceda: Honored to have authored laws in SONA

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda lauded the final State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Duterte, saying it enumerated the reforms that he championed.

“His comprehensive tax reform program is hailed across the globe as a model for public resource management and public investment. In fact, the Duterte tax reform, which I am honored to have authored and shepherded in Congress, is taught as a module in some of the world’s best universities,” Salceda, chair of the House ways and means committee, said in a statement.

The enactments of the Department for Disaster Resilience and the modernization of various government services were also proposed by Salceda in the lower body.

“I thank President Duterte for lending his bully pulpit to push for reforms I am honored to have authored. This vote of confidence strengthens the chance that we can get all of them done before we choose our next leader,” Salceda said.

As Duterte reiterated the “historic legacies” of his administration in areas of socioeconomic developments alongside tax reforms, he still sought the need to pass some bills in his final year in office.

To implement better governance, Duterte called the legislative to pass the Ease of Doing Business Act.

Salceda, who forwarded to the Palace a paper on government modernization through a single-site business registration system, said that the said act is crucial in creating jobs after the country recovers from the pandemic.

Duterte also mentioned that one of the important components of employment recovery strategy is the retooling and upskilling of workers, of which Salceda reviewed his counsel for Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to have its own cabinet-level department in order to play a stronger role in national development.

Salceda said the centralized department that will focus on and respond to the needs of Overseas Filipino Workers concerns is his pet bill, also a passage item according to the President.

Duterte also hopes to pursue the creation of public entities dedicated to emerging and re-emerging disease management and enact a law for the Center for Disease Prevention and Control and the Virology and Vaccines Institute, both of Salceda principally authored in 2020. (KAB/PIA5)