THE Senate and the House of Representatives are on track for the December passage of the 20 legislative measures prioritized by the Marcos administration, along with the proposed P5.768 trillion General Appropriations Bill for 2024.
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO), in a news release, said this was reported by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Speaker Martin Romualdez during the Third Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting that was presided by President Marcos Jr. in Malacañang on Wednesday.
The 20 priority bills include the National Employment Action Plan, LGU Income Classification, Internet Transaction Act, BOT/PPP Act, Salt Development Industry Act, Ease of Paying Taxes, Real Property Evaluation and Assessment Reform Act, Magna Carta for Seafarers, and Anti-Agriculture Smuggling Act.
Other measures are the Waste-to-Energy Bill, National Disease Prevention Management Authority, amendments to the Banking Act or the Fund Secrecy Law, Medical Reserve Corps, creation of the Virology Institute of the Philippines, E-Governance Act, New Philippine Passport Act, the National Government Rightsizing Act, the National Scamming Act, the National Citizens Service Training Program Act and the Military and Uniformed Personnel Pension System Act.
Zubiri said the Senate has finished about half of the 20 priority bills and he expects some of the measures to be approved in the next few weeks.
“We are happy to announce na halos kalahati ay natapos na rin namin sa Senado. Magiging batas na po siya and those that are pending na magiging batas within the next few weeks, and hopefully the President will be able to sign it (We are happy to announce that the Senate have finished almost half of the bills. It will soon become laws and those that are pending will be enacted into law within the next few weeks, and hopefully the President will be able to sign it),” he said.
He committed that the longest time that it would take to pass the priority measures, along with the budget bill, would be by December.
Romualdez said the House has so far approved 18 out of the 20 priority measures identified last December by the LEDAC.
Romualdez said the House will to continue working to pass all 20 bills before the end of this month or three months ahead of the commitment date set by the Senate and the House of Representatives in the previous LEDAC meeting held last July 5.
“Today, I am pleased to announce that 18 out of these 20 have already been approved by the House of Representatives on third and final reading. We are on track to approve the two remaining measures before the October recess,” Romualdez said.
ADDITIONAL MEASURES
The PCO, quoting Zubiri, said the LEDAC has approved several measures for inclusion in the Common Legislative Agenda for the 19th Congress.
“Mayroon pong additional, dinagdag po ng ating economic team and we committed to support these as well. Wala po kaming nakikitang controversial (There are additional measures endorsed by the economic team and we committed to support these as well. We do not see anything controversial about these measures),” Zubiri said.
The additional measures in the LEDAC list are the amendments to the Government Procurement Reform Act, Excise Tax on Single-Use Plastics, amendments to the Cooperative Code, amendments to the Fisheries Code, the New Government Auditing Code, Rationalization of the Mining Fiscal Regime, and the Philippine Defense Industry Development Act.
Also included were the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, Open Access in Data Transmission Act, and amendments to the Right-of-Way Act.
SENATE
Senate majority leader Joel Villanueva said the Senate has passed on third and final reading three out of the 20 priority bills.
Villanueva said these are the Trabaho Para Sa Bayan Act, LGU Income Classification Act and the Philippine Salt Industry Development Act.
“This week, three additional bills were passed on second reading, which are the Ease of Paying Taxes Act, Internet Transactions Act, and the New Philippine Passport Act. Before the Senate goes on break next week, our goal is to pass the Public-Private Partnership Act, Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers Act and the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act,” Villanueva said in a message to the media.
“The Senate has a huge task at hand, and we thank each of our colleagues for taking an active role in ensuring that we are not only able to meet our targets, but also that all bills that passed are thoroughly studied and discussed. We are in full support of the administration’s goals especially in crafting laws to generate employment and uplift the quality of life of every Filipino,” he said.
HOUSE
Romualdez reported that from the 20 measures slated for approval by the end of the year, the House has already approved on third and final reading the following bills: Amendment to the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)/Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Act, National Disease Prevention Management Authority or Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Internet Transaction Act/ E-Commerce Law, Health Emergency Auxiliary Reinforcement Team (HEART) Act, Virology Institute of the Philippines, Instituting a National Citizens Service Training (NCST) Program, Valuation Reform Bill (Package 3), E-Governance Act/E-Government Act, Ease of Paying Taxes, Waste-to-Energy Bill, New Philippine Passport Act, Magna Carta of Seafarers, Rightsizing the National Government, Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA), and amendment to the Bank Secrecy Law.
The Speaker said the enrolled bill on Trabaho Para sa Bayan (National Employment Recovery Strategy) has also already been transmitted to the Palace for the President’s action, while another enrolled bill, the Automatic Income Classification Act for Local Government Units, is also ready for transmittal.
The proposed Philippine Salt Industry Development Act is undergoing deliberations in the bicameral conference committee, bringing to 18 the total of measures the House has approved from the 20 LEDAC bills it committed to pass this year.
As for the two remaining LEDAC measures, House Bill No. 8969 or the Military and Uniformed Personnel Pension System Act was approved on second reading during the plenary session Tuesday and slated for approval on third and final reading next week.
Romualdez said that the Committee on Agriculture and Food approved early Wednesday the substitute bill consolidating all measures seeking amendments to the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act, paving the way for its scheduled approval in plenary by next week.
Romualdez also reported that the House started on Tuesday the plenary deliberations of the proposed 2024 national budget, with the session lasting over twelve (12) hours.
He said the House is working to meet its target to approve the budget bill on third and final reading by September 27 next week.
Romualdez said that of the 17 measures the President identified in his latest State of the Nation Address, seven have been approved by the House on third and final reading, while two are on the 2nd reading stage.
Romualdez said that while the eight remaining measures are in still in the committee level, six of these are already in advanced stages and scheduled to be reported for plenary discussion and approval when Congress resumes session in November.
“We are confident of meeting our self-imposed target of having all these measures approved before we go on our Christmas break,” the Speaker said.
Romualdez noted that last year, the House processed in record time a total of 1,150 bills and resolutions, approving on final reading a total of 173 measures.
“We did this in less than six months or just barely 41 session days. This year, we hope to exceed this output or at least match the intensity,” he said. — With Raymond Africa and Wendell Vigilia
