On 7 November 2019, Senate held a public hearing to discuss how online businesses should be taxed. PAGASA Pres. Steven T. Cua was seated between Atty. Cyril Alfred Castro of Lazada, Phils. and the Senior Adviser of the American Chamber of  Commerce of the Philippines, Mr. John Forbes.  The Meet was exploratory in nature.  Photo taken after the session included the Chairman of the Phil. Retailers Assn., Atty. Paul Santos (in blue), Vice Chairman Roberto Claudio, PRA staff Mayan Sangil and Consumer Rights Advocate Joaquin Ma. Tamano, Jr. who represented Laban Konsyumer Inc.

In the morning of 29 January 2019, the Senate held a Hearing on another round of tax price increase for the tobacco industry. Stakeholders in the said industry as well as medical experts in studies on the effects of tobaccos on human beings were present to deliberate on the issue. PAGASA Pres. STC sat as a Reference Person at this activity.

Nov. 26, 2018 Senate Hearing on the further banning of cigarettes through additional excise tax and packaging and merchandising measures under Comm. Chairman Sen. Sonny Angara and Comm. Member Sen. Gordon.

Another Sen. Hearing on 27 September 2018 on the review and proposed lowering of minimum investment requirement for foreign retailers planning to enter the Philippine market.

PAGASA Pres. Steven T. Cua attended the Senate Hearing on a review of the Philippine Retail Liberalization Act with Senators Aquilino Pimentel III (Chair) and SherwinGatchalian under the Committee on Trade, Industry and Entrepreneurship on 28 Aug. 2018.

PAGASA and PRA was represented by Steven T. Cua on 7 September 2017 at the Senate with Ways & Means Committee Chairman Sen. Sonny Angara conducting the hearings with Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Nancy Binay. Asked of the retailers was what we think of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s plans to link all cash registers (whether electronic or POS) online to the data center of the BIR.  Of course without being sarcastic, STC expressed apprehension regarding the readiness of the government to do this considering the state of connectivity in our country.  He also cited fear in the confidentiality of data passing online and the cost of compliance.

On 24 Aug. 2017, PAGASA was invited once more to the august chambers of the Phil. Senate to attend the extended hearings on proposed tax on Sugar-Sweetened Beverage (SSB).  As usual, the room was filled and STC had to stand for two full hours before a medical practitioner vacated her seat after the doctors had attested to the varying but non-conclusive studies relating sugar intake from processed drinks to the incidence of diabetes in the different countries covered by various studies. The lawmakers were in a quandary as whether to tax SSB via the volume of these products per se or whether to do so based on the sugar-content of said products.  Adopting the latter seems more appropriate when attributing the incidence of diabetes to the amount of sugar intake of a patient from SSBs.  However, legislators are not sure whether our good people at the Food & Drugs Administration (FDA) are capable of releasing information about the level of sugar content of any given produc...