Pangasinan fourth district Representative Christopher De Venecia (File photo courtesy of de Venecia Facebook page)
DAGUPAN CITY – Pangasinan’s 4th District Rep. Christopher de Venecia has lauded the inclusion of the passage of legislation for the economic stimulus package in the priority measures identified by President Rodrigo R. Duterte during his 5th State of the Nation Address, but he also sought a clearer strategy to combat the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
In a statement posted on his Facebook page on Tuesday, de Venecia commended the President’s approval of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE) that aims to reduce the corporate income tax from 30 percent to 25 percent.
“This is to help the companies and the businesses, as well as one of the versions of a stimulus bill called Bayanihan to Recover as One Act that allots (a) PHP160-billion stimulus to different sectors of the society,” he said.
De Venecia, however, said he still hopes the Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy (ARISE) Philippines bill, a version of the stimulus bill of the Congress worth PHP1.3 trillion, would be passed as it is more comprehensive and would help the country’s economy to recover.
He also commended Duterte’s stance that businesses and tenants be given enough time to pay for their rental fees, water, and electricity bills.
“The programs and proposals for overseas Filipino workers, who have lost their jobs and (were) repatriated to the country, from the training, scholarship for their children, loans, and job opening in agricultural business are also good,” de Venecia added.
The strategy to travel local is also amicable if traveling will already be allowed, but it should also include buying local to support small businessmen, he said.
“It is also right that the national government and the private sectors work more on improving the telecommunication and infrastructure in the country, especially in schools, while we transition to mixed or multimodal learning,” de Venecia said.
He, however, also sought the government’s 30-day plan on how to contain Covid-19.
“Some strategies were mentioned but this is what the people, who are feeling low because of the increasing number of cases every day in the country, unlike in other countries, are more expectant of,” de Venecia added. (PNA) #DuterteSONA2020 #WeRiseAsOne
