THE PROCESS of amending the Build-Operate and Transfer (BOT) Law is expected to go smoothly in the Senate, with only one lawmaker expected to raise issues on the recently proclaimed priority measure once the sessions resume in January.
In a chance interview with BusinessWorld last week, Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. said that Senate Bill No. 3035, otherwise known as the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Act of the Philippines, is set to be interpellated by Senator Sergio R. Osmeña once the chamber resumes session next month.
“I don’t really know how long it would take. It would depend on the issues that will be raised by Senator Osmeña,” according to Mr. Marcos, one of the authors of the bill who delivered a sponsorship speech on the measure.
Mr. Marcos had said that the proposed PPP Act will push forward major reforms, create more sustainable arrangements and institutionalize key initiatives which were already proven effective and efficient by the government.
In a text message to BusinessWorld on Sunday, Mr. Osmeña said he would seek clarification on some of the definitions of terms set out in the measure, but did not elaborate on which provision.
“Nothing contentious. But I will have certain provisions defined for the record,” he said.
Mr. Osmeña, as the acting chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Services, have been handling the hearings in the Senate which involves some of the PPP projects of the government.
Two days ago, President Benigno S. C. Aquino III certified the proposed measure as urgent, speeding up the legislative process as it does away with three-day requirement in passing it on third reading.
With the measure in second reading at the Senate, the counterpart version at the House of Representatives had yet to reach plenary before Congress adjourned for the holiday break.
The measure has been tagged as a priority reform measure by business groups, as it the bill is seen to update and reform the decades-old BOT law with the new PPP structure introduced by the Aquino government in 2010.
