THE Senate on Monday adopted a resolution creating a special committee tasked with proposing measures to address the Philippines’ economic slowdown, rising living costs and weakening purchasing power.
“It will focus on our economic slowdown and we will propose solutions to jumpstart it,” Senate President Sherwin T. Gatchalian said during the plenary session.
Senate Resolution No. 618 created the Reinvigorate Investment and Sustainable Economic Growth (RISE) Ad Hoc Committee, which will study longer-term policies to support economic growth, create jobs and improve workers’ incomes.
Mr. Gatchalian said Senator Ana Theresia “Risa” N. Hontiveros-Baraquel , who heads the Economic Affairs committee, would lead the RISE panel’s first hearing on Thursday.
The resolution cited elevated consumer prices and the peso’s weakness among the pressures facing Filipino households.
Philippine inflation accelerated to 7.2% in April from 4.1% in March, driven largely by faster increases in food, transport and housing and utility costs, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. It has since eased to 6.1% in August.
“There is also a general rising cost of goods and services that continues to be a problem as it dampens the purchasing power of households,” according to a copy of the resolution.
Mr. Gatchalian, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel F. Zubiri and Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter S. Cayetano introduced the measure.
The resolution also cited the peso’s depreciation. The local currency fell to a record of P62.68 against the dollar on Sept. 14 and touched a record intraday low of P62.925 the following day.
“History and economic analysis demonstrate that temporary relief measures and short-term band-aid solutions merely provide fleeting reprieve without addressing the underlying structural weaknesses of the domestic economy,” according to the resolution.
Mr. Gatchalian said in August that the RISE committee would be patterned after the Proactive Response and Oversight for Timely and Effective Crisis Strategy panel created in April to address the oil price shock stemming from the US-Iran war.
The RISE panel, however, will focus more broadly on reducing living costs and developing measures with the private sector to support economic growth.
The Senate is also considering proposals to raise the annual income tax exemption threshold from P250,000 after President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. called for an increase to P350,000 during his State of the Nation Address in July.
Several senators have filed measures proposing higher thresholds, including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Joseph Victor “JV” G. Ejercito, who has proposed raising the exemption to P600,000.
The RISE committee is expected to issue interim reports based on its hearings before submitting a comprehensive report containing its findings and policy recommendations. — KPBG