House OKs tax exemption for critical medical supplies on 2nd reading
THE House of Representatives has approved on second reading House Bill (HB) 8895 exempting critical medical supplies, including medical oxygen, from any and all taxes, following a request from President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte for Congress to pass such a measure.
House committee on ways and means chairman and Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda said that the tax panel worked on the substitute provisions and inserted them in a similar measure already approved by the tax panel earlier and now pending in the House floor “to expedite the process, given the urgency of the request.”
“We thank the House leadership, under Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, for passing this Presidential request urgently,” Salceda said.
“The bill comes at a good time when we are in need of these critical supplies. This end-to-end exemption will help bolster our stock of critical supplies, such as medical oxygen,” Salceda cited.
The bill exempts the manufacture, importation, sale, and donation of critical medical supplies and essential goods during public health emergencies.
The measure also mandates the Secretary of Health and Secretary of Finance to draw up the list of goods subject to exemption.
The exemptions will require the declaration of a public health emergency by the President after December 2023, but will be in effect until then.
Critical medical products refer to vaccines and other necessary medicines to contain public health emergencies.
Essential goods refer to personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves, gowns, masks, goggles, and face shields; surgical equipment and supplies; laboratory equipment and its reagents; medical equipment and devices; support and maintenance for laboratory and medical equipment, surgical equipment and supplies; medical supplies, tools, and consumables such as alcohols, sanitizers, tissue papers, thermometers, hand soaps, detergents, sodium hypochlorite, cleaning materials, povidone iodine; testing kits, and such other supplies or equipment as may be determined by the Department of Health (DOH) and other relevant government agencies.
The Secretary of Finance, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and the Secretary of Trade and Industry, may also suspend the threshold on required export sales for availment of privileges under Title XIII of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, to allow manufacturers to sell to the domestic market.
“This will save lives. It will serve as a ready mechanism for this president and future presidents to use when a public health emergency is imminent or in place,” Salceda concluded.
