Subcommittee assigned to act on Volunteerism in Nation-Building (VNB) Bill

Wednesday, 29 June 2011 01:20

The House Committee on Ways and Means has referred to its Subcommittee on Local Government Taxation and Finance for further deliberations a draft substitute bill seeking to strengthen nation-building through the institutionalization of a strategic volunteerism based multi-sectoral public-private partnership framework in all local government units and congressional districts in the country. The bill is in substitution of House Bill 4374 filed by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. and co-authored by 20 solons, including Rep. Hermilando Mandanas (2nd District, Batangas) who chairs the Committee on Ways and Means.

Prior to its referral to the Committee on Ways and Means which has been tasked to deliberate on the bill's tax features, HB 4374 or the proposed "Filipino Volunteerism in Nation-Building (VNB) Act of 2011," had been approved by the Committee on People's Participation chaired by Rep. Benjamin Asilo (1st District, Manila) last May.

Mandanas said the Subcommittee on Local Government Taxation and Finance chaired by Rep. Paolo Javier (Lone District, Antique) should handle further deliberations on the substitute bill especially since LGUs shall be involved in administering the VNB Act once it is enacted into law, and the proposal involves real estate taxes.

Rep. George Arnaiz (2nd District, Negros Oriental) a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, and chairman of the Committee on Local Government, said since the bill involves LGUs, it is only proper that LGUs through their different city, provincial and barangay leagues should be invited in the next hearings.

The bill provides it is the policy of the State to guarantee the institutionalization of a committed, participative and sustained engagement of the LGUs and Congressional Districts, local and national civil society organizations (CSOs), the private sector, and the constituents in the long-term process of community building and poverty alleviation, through joint ventures and such other cooperative arrangements within the overall framework of nation-building.

All VNB programs, projects and activities shall be in pursuance of the following: community building through shelter and other infrastructure programs; community child, youth and maternal health; child and youth education; community entrepreneurship; food sufficiency and woman empowerment; peace efforts; culture; eco-tourism; and environmental preservation and protection.

Moreover, micro-finance and livelihood programs, projects and activities as well as strategies, approaches and other initiatives that will promote and engender amity and harmony in areas or localities that have peace-conflicts, shall be deemed as integral parts of the VNB paradigm.

Among the multi-sectoral public and private sectors of VNB are the Office of the President (OP), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Finance, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Social Welfare and Development, National Housing Authority, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, all LGUs, all Congressional Districts, and 23 other departments, agencies and offices.

The bill also provides for the establishment of a VNB Satellite Office or Desk in each LGU or District, wherever it is geographically feasible, which shall primarily serve as the official venue where all VNB concerns and activities within the locality shall be coordinated, conducted and consolidated.

A VNB-Joint Congressional Oversight Committee (VNB-JCOC) shall also be created which will oversee the VNB work and submit an annual progress and audit report to the Office of the President and to Congress.

It also provides incentives for VNB partners and stakeholders the guidelines for the screening, evaluation and approval of which shall be set by the DOF, in coordination with the OP, BIR and the BOC, the DBM and the VNB Secretariat.

All donations in cash and in kind, including land, all of which are actually, directly and exclusively used by the VNB in its programs, projects and activities shall be fully tax deductible from the gross income of the donor.

A donor's tax exemption shall be enjoyed by the VNB donor upon submission to the BIR of the VNB requirements.

There shall also be a Special Housing Fund to be sourced from the proceeds of real property tax (RPT) pegged at one per centum of the assessed value of real property, in addition to the prevailing RPT levied thereon pursuant to existing laws.

The government shall also consider VNB partners as priorities in the grant of land for socialized housing acquired under Republic Act 7279 which shall include community mortgage, land swapping, land assembly or consolidation, land banking, donation to the government, joint venture agreement, negotiated purchase and expropriation.