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The Department of Transportation’s lobby for the passage of bills for the modernization of the country’s shipbuilding and ship repair industries will get extra push from diplomats representing member nations of the European Union
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DOTr assistant secretary for maritime Villamor Ventura Plan said one of the first steps that needs to be taken is to get senators to file counterpart bills for those already put forward in the House of Representatives
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“We also have the commitment of some ambassadors from the European Union who will try to visit our legislators in order to push for this,” Plan said
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Danish Ambassador to the Philippines Frantz-Michael Mellbin recognized how Philippine government agencies are working in a “coordinated way” to push for the industry’s development and improving the regulatory environment
The Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) lobby for the passage of bills for the modernization of the country’s shipbuilding and ship repair (SBSR) industries will get extra push from diplomats representing member nations of the European Union.
DOTr assistant secretary for maritime Villamor Ventura Plan said one of the first steps that needs to be taken is to get senators to file counterpart bills for those already put forward in the House of Representatives.
“(H)opefully we can have someone… sponsor [the bills] for us” in the Senate, Plan told media on the sidelines of the Revitalizing the Philippine Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Industry Conference.
“We also have the commitment of some ambassadors from the European Union who will try to visit our legislators in order to push for this,” he added.
The DOTr is also planning to submit an endorsement letter to have the proposed SBSR-related laws be considered as priority bills in the current Congress.
He noted that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has expressed support to the proposed measures as he “sees the importance of the maritime industry,” which will also drive growth in other sectors such as steel and domestic shipping.
A priority stamp from the Office of the President will speed up the passage of a bill in Congress.
READ: Marcos inaugurates HD Korea, Hyundai Subic shipyard
Danish Ambassador to the Philippines Frantz-Michael Mellbin, in a separate interview during the same event, said: “I think it’s absolutely essential that on the regulatory side that the government improves the doing business opportunities here but there’s a lot of work to do and some of that is not just about the SBSR but also about the CREATE (Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises) Law and also regulatory work that is ongoing and the DOTr and MARINA (Maritime Industry Authority).”
“So there are many steps on the way but what we’re happy about is that government agencies have come together… to make this happen in a coordinated way across [the] government. That’s very important,” he added.
MARINA, an agency attached to the DOTr, has already taken initial moves to push for the priority certification of the bills in the 20th Congress that opened in July.
READ: MARINA renews push for ship registry, shipbuilding bills as priority
MARINA administrator Sonia Malaluan told PortCalls in September that they have already submitted the filed bills to the DOTr and the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs for consideration in the list of the current administration’s priority measures.
There are currently five bills filed in the House of Representatives aimed at expanding and modernizing shipyards, SBSR, and the ship recycling industries.
All bills on SBSR development are pending with the lower chamber’s Committee on Trade and Industry while the fiscal incentives bill is with the Committee on Ways and Means. – Roumina Pablo
