Gordon emotional in opposing incentives review board under CREATE bill

Senator Richard Gordon on Thursday turned emotional as he expressed opposition to the powers being vested to the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) under the corporate income tax reform bill in the Senate.

Since Wednesday night, the pioneer chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has been questioning the need to give authority to the FIRB to grant incentives to investors.

"Isa lang ang gusto ko na ipinapakiusap ko, na puwede namang pagbigyan —'yung FIRB. Saan ba galing 'yan? Sino bang uupo diyan, mga Cabinet members!" Gordon said.

"I have tears in my eyes! So, I beg you, let us watch the steps we make," he added.

Under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) bill, the FIRB would be chaired by the Secretary of Finance and shall be in charge of granting incentives to registered projects or activities with investment capital of above P1 billion.

The grant of incentives to those with investment capital P1 billion and below, meanwhile, shall be delegated to the Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs), provided that the FIRB may increase this threshold periodically or as may be necessary.

The measure also gives the President of the Philippines the power to approve a modified set of incentives to attract highly-desirable investments that would usher in more employment opportunities, specifically those with minimum investment capital of P50 billion.

Senator Pia Cayetano, who chairs the Senate Ways and Means Committee, explained that the FIRB is being created to ensure accountability among investors.

"The whole essence of CREATE was to create an FIRB that will ensure that all the IPAs are keeping track of what their investors are investing, what they are doing, if they are complying with the labor laws," she said.

Gordon — still asserting that the IPAs should be allowed to grant the incentives regardless of the amount of investment capital — proposed to exempt some freeports from being covered by the CREATE bill's provision for the same.

He stressed that the Senate should not be a "yes man" to the terms being pushed by the executive department.

The SBMA, Clark Development Corporation, Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority, Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, Poro Point Management Corporation, Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority should be exempted from the jurisdiction of the FIRB, according to Gordon.

"Ilan lang po iyan, mga freeports lang po iyan, hindi ko na nga isinama ang special economic zones," he said.

Cayetano, however, said she cannot accept the amendment, stressing that "the whole essence of CREATE is to be able to have all the IPAs accountable and to make their filings, their submissions to the FIRB."

The proposed amendment was not accepted after only five voted in favor of it: Gordon, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Senators Risa Hontiveros, Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, and Francis Tolentino. Fourteen senators voted against it.

Gordon proposed another amendment, one that would delete the phrase that transfers to the FIRB the power of the IPA to approve or disapprove fiscal incentives. It was not accepted by the body as only eight senators voted in favor of it, 11 voted against it, and one abstained.   —KBK, GMA News