CCoommmmiitttteeee DDaaiillyy BBuulllleettiinn th 18 Congress A publication of the Committee Affairs Department Vol. I No. 125 First Regular Session Department July 3, 2020 COMMITTEE MEETINGS ON HOUSE MEASURES MEASURES COMMITTEE PRINCIPAL SUBJECT MATTER ACTION TAKEN/DISCUSSION NO. AUTHOR Basic Education Substitute Reps. Romulo, Establishing the Philippine High School The Committee, chaired by Pasig City Rep. and Culture Bill to HBs Garcia (J.E.), for Design and Arts System Roman Romulo, approved the substitute bill 5982, 202, Dimaporo (A.), subject to style and amendment and the 2163 and and Rodriguez corresponding Committee Report. 4861 Rep. Romulo, author of HB 5982, said that establishing the Philippine High School for the Arts System would ensure that students of the Arts and Design senior high school track are highly skilled and prepared to either work or to pursue college after graduation. Creative Economy Council of the Philippines President Paolo Mercado expressed support for the bill. He cited the importance of looking at the Arts and Design track as a program that will open up career opportunities to students who would like to venture into creative jobs. Rep. Christopher de Venecia (4th District, Pangasinan) encouraged the Department of Trade and Industry to create a demand for the creative industry. He said that the low enrolment in the Arts and Design track is due to the lack of businesses in the regions related to arts and design. Rep. Jose Enrique "Joet" Garcia III (2nd District, Bataan) suggested to amend the bill’s second paragraph of Section 16 (Civil Service Coverage) to be read as “The compensation, allowances, and benefits of career service personnel shall be in accordance with the Salary Standardization Law and they shall also be entitled to retirement benefits under the Government Service Insurance System. Visiting professors and instructors shall be entitled to such compensation fees or emoluments as are reasonably allowed for engagement of comparable nature.” The Department of Education (DepEd) expressed its support for the bill along with several lawmakers present who gave their respective recommendations to improve the proposed law. Substitute Reps. Garcia Expanding the purposes and application The Committee will deliberate further on the Bill to HBs (J.E.), Acop, of the Special Education Fund (SEF), substitute bill in its next meeting. 205, 611, Campos, Deputy amending for the purpose Sections 100, 1431, 1758, Speaker 235 and 272 of RA 7160, otherwise Rep. Romulo, author of HBs 6684 and 6685, Continuation… 3864, 4990, Villafuerte, known as the Local Government Code of explained that expanding the purposes and Basic Education 6684 and Reps. Almario, 1991 application of the SEF will empower local and Culture 6685 Agabas, and government units (LGUs) to utilize the fund to Romulo address the educational needs of their constituents, especially in times of national emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic, without violating existing laws. On the use of the SEF proceeds for private schools, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Ricojudge Echiverri said that this runs contrary to the constitutional provision that public funds should be used for public purposes. Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA) Managing Director Joseph Estrada said that such provision is not specifically found in the Constitution but rather in the government auditing rules. Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (2nd District, Cagayan de Oro City) opined that giving assistance to private schools using the SEF does not violate any existing law because the direct beneficiaries of such assistance are the students in the private schools who are part of the general public. In essence, the SEF is still used to benefit the public. Reps. Mark Go (Baguio City) and Edgar Chatto (1st District, Bohol) agreed with Rep. Rodriguez’ manifestation. Likewise, DepEd Undersecretary Tonisito Umali believes that as long as the public purpose for which the SEF will be used is clearly stated, then there is no violation of the Constitution. But he still stressed that the general rule is that “public funds should be used for public purpose.” Rep. Rosanna "Ria" Vergara (3rd District, Nueva Ecija) recommended that in the drafting of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the proposed law, parameters should be set, giving preference to “small” private schools which are truly in need of assistance. Rep. Romulo clarified that because of the government’s limited resources, the needs of public schools will be given priority. Deputy Speaker Deogracias Victor "DV" Savellano (1st District, Ilocos Sur) pointed out that the SEF may not be a significant amount for some LGUs as the amount varies depending on the size of each LGU. The DepEd was requested to submit the amounts of SEF at the municipal and school levels, and a list of projects that are deemed 4 of 4 Continuation… necessary during the pandemic which the Basic Education SEF could possibly fund. and Culture Information and HB 38 Rep. Biazon Mandating the National The Committee, chaired by Rep. Victor Yap Communications Telecommunications Commission (NTC) (2nd District, Tarlac), approved the Technology to require internet service providers consolidation of the four bills and created a (ISPs) to deliver a minimum standard of technical working group (TWG) to do this 10 megabytes per second for internet task. connection speed Muntinlupa City Rep. Rozzano Rufino Biazon HB 312 Rep. Salceda Declaring the poor internet speed and was designated as TWG Chair. connectivity in the country as a national emergency, and granting President Reps. Joey Sarte Salceda (2nd District, Albay) Rodrigo Roa Duterte emergency powers and Virgilio Lacson (Party-List, MANILA and prescribing urgent measures TEACHERS), respective authors of HBs 312 necessary and proper to effectively and 4132, manifested the need to address address such predicament the slow internet speed in the country and to accord internet users and subscribers with HB 4132 Rep. Lacson Providing for a reliable internet speed the best quality of internet connection service. connection in the Philippines, institutionalizing minimum speed Rep. Biazon, author of HB 38, said his bill requirements for compliance of all ISPs seeks to address the growing complaints of subscribers on the quality of internet services HB 4367 Deputy Speaker Requiring ISPs to deliver a minimum they receive from their ISPs. The bill Santos-Recto standard for internet connection speed mandates the NTC to require all ISPs to provide a minimum internet download speed of 10 Mbps for all broadband internet access. Expressing their support for the bills were the NTC, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Philippine LongDistance Telephone Company (PLDT). NTC Deputy Commissioner Edgardo Cabarios disclosed that the Commission is preparing the initial draft circular which prescribes the average minimum percentage of the offered maximum internet speed. He also explained that under RA 7925 or the Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines, internet or broadband access is classified as value added service (VAS) that should be deregulated. Hence, the passage of the proposed legislation will remove the legal issue on whether the NTC can set the minimum internet speed. The resource persons from the following entities expressed their reservations on the bills: Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), Project Bandwidth and Signal Statistics (Project BASS), Internet Society of the Philippines (ISOC.PH), Democracy.Net.PH, Philippine Cable Television Association Inc. (PCTA), Smart Communications, Inc., and Globe Telecom, Inc. Project BASS developer and co-founder Wilson Chua advised against setting a fixed bandwidth for the minimum internet speed in order for the proposed law to not be obsolete 4 of 4 Continuation… in the future. He added that what should be Information and done first is to establish the necessary IT Communications infrastructure to increase internet speed in Technology the country. ISOC.PH Vice President Mary Grace Mirandilla-Santos agreed that the fundamental issue is for the country to have adequate infrastructure first before looking at the quality of service of ISPs. She explained that if a minimum internet speed requirement is imposed by the NTC, many small ISPs will not be able to comply and would eventually go out of business, considering the hefty penalty that will be imposed for not meeting the said requirement. Mirandilla-Santos recommended that the NTC should just ensure that small ISPs are properly regulated and are providing or delivering the appropriate internet service to their respective subscribers. The resource persons were requested to submit their respective position papers on the bills. HB 360 Rep. Yap (V.) Protecting telecommunication The Committee agreed to create a TWG to subscribers against unauthorized consolidate the five bills. services and consumption of load credits Rep. Wes Gatchalian (1st District, Valenzuela HBs 2311, Rep. Gatchalian, Prohibiting all public telecommunications City), author of HB 2311, was designated as 4361, 5554 Deputy Speaker entities and information and TWG Chair. & 5593 Santos-Recto, communications technology providers Reps. Ong (J.), from imposing an expiration period on the According to Rep. Gatchalian, his bill seeks and Nieto validity of prepaid load credits and their to prohibit the imposition of expiration