THE House of Representatives can buckle down to work now that almost all standing and special committees have been organized with their respective chairmen and members.
Speaker Martin Romualdez, who represents Leyte’s first district, said he expects the chamber to get busier in the 19th Congress now that most of the lawmakers know their roles.
Once constituted, House committees can hold hearings on filed House Bills and other measures, which is among the initial steps in the legislative process.
During the House plenary sessions dated July 25 to 27 and August 1 to 3, a total of 2,877 measures were referred to the various committees for deliberation.
The breakdown of the referred measures are as follows: 2,744 bills; 119 resolutions, seven joint resolutions, five concurrent resolutions, and two resolutions of both Houses of Congress.
Out of the 64 standing committees, 50 have been designated with their respective chairpersons. All 64 panels have been assigned members.
Ten of the 15 special committees also have their respective chairmen and all, except one, now have designated members.
Last week, the plenary named Bohol Rep. Kristine Alexie Tutor as chair of the committee on civil service and professional regulation Bulacan Rep. Florida Robes as chair of the good government and public accountability panel.
Expected to be the busiest committee in the next few weeks will be the committee on appropriations chaired by Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co, which is in charge of scrutinizing the Marcos administration’s proposed national budget for 2023.
The precursor of the budget, called the National Expenditure Program (NEP), is expected to be submitted by Malacañang to the House of Representatives by the third week of August.
