Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 11) — Albay Rep. Joey Salceda filed a bill on Wednesday seeking to exempt the manufacture, sale, and importation of medical supplies urgently needed to treat COVID-19 from taxes amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.
“As variants grow more infectious even as the country tries to attain herd immunity, our healthcare capacity will experience periodic surges of cases,” the measure’s explanatory note stated.
House Bill 9958 proposes to give Finance Secretary Carlo Dominguez broad powers to allow the exemption, as well as spare the supplies from export quotas and other requirements.
The Finance Secretary and the Health Secretary shall create the list of critically needed equipment. The Finance chief may also make exemptions for certain business enterprises that meet quotas or minimum shares of their output, the bill added.
Currently, the CREATE law effected earlier this year exempts COVID-19 vaccines, medicines and personal protective equipment from value-added tax and import duties.
In Salceda’s bill, among the suggested covered equipment were medical oxygen, PPEs, syringes, ventilators and other items that are in short supply.
