The Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) is eyeing the passage of 25 identified priority measures this year, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said.
In a statement yesterday, NEDA, which sits as the LEDAC secretariat, said the approval of the Common Legislative Agenda (CLA) for the 18th Congress by the LEDAC Executive Committee (ExCom) will help the country bounce back from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
The LEDAC-ExCom was convened last February 18.
“We will continue working with Congress to move the legislative agenda forward and enact these priority legislations within 2021,” said Karl Kendrick Chua, acting socio economic planning secretary and LEDAC secretariat head
Thirty bills were identified as priority measures, five of which have been passed by both houses of Congress.
Of the remaining 25, NEDA said 12 were identified as top priorities to be passed by the end of the second regular session in June 2021. The remaining 13 are targeted to be passed within 2021.
The 12 priority measures targeted to be passed by the middle of the year are the Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery Act, Package 3 of Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) or the Valuation Reform Act, Package 4 of CTRP or the Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act, Amendments to the Public Service Act, Amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, Amendments to the Foreign Investments Act, Rural Agricultural and Fisheries Development Financing System Act, Creating a Medical Reserve Corps Act, Creating a Disease Prevention and Control Authority Act, Imposing Amusement Tax on Digital Platform and Offshore Betting Stations of Licensed Cockpits, Establishing the Tax Regime of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators and Strengthening Local Government Participation in National Development by Increasing the Share of Local Government Units in the National Internal Revenue Taxes.
The remaining 13 bills in the CLA targeted to be passed by December are Creating a Department of Overseas Filipinos Act; Creating a Department of Disaster Resilience Act; Creating a Boracay Island Development Authority Act; Creating a Unified System of Separation, Retirement and Pension of the Military and Uniformed Personnel Act; National Land Use and Management Act; Internet Transactions Act; Magna Carta for Barangay Health Workers Act; National Housing Development Act; Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Act; Modernizing the Bureau of Fire Protection Act; Modernizing the Bureau of Immigration Act; Amending/Repealing Republic Act 10192, or the Continuing Professional Development Act of 2016; and Reviving the Death Penalty by Lethal Injection for Crimes Specified under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
The five priority measures passed by both houses are the General Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2021, Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer Act, Amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act, Coconut Farmers’ and Industry Trust Fund Act, and Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act.