SPEAKER Martin Romualdez yesterday vowed to pass the 12 remaining priority measures of the Marcos administration when Congress resumes session next year.
Romualdez said the bills were listed under the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council’s (Ledac) Common Legislative Agenda (CLA).
He made the announcement after the House of Representatives passed the controversial bill creating the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), the P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023, and 20 other priority bills of the Marcos administration, 19 of which were also approved by the Ledac.
The 12 priority measures that need congressional approval are: a proposed enabling law for the natural gas industry; amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA); unified system of separation, retirement and pension; the proposed E-Governance Act and E-Government Act; The National Land Use Act; The National Defense Act; the national government rightsizing program; the budget modernization bill; the bill creating the Department of Water Resources; establishing the Negros Island Region; Magna Carta for Filipino Seafarers; and the establishment of regional specialty hospitals.
“You can count on the House to work harder next year to do our part in improving the lives of our people,” Romualdez.
He reiterated the House leadership’s “unwavering commitment to support the Agenda for Prosperity of President Marcos.”
“And we have backed that commitment with tangible results. In the first five months of the 19th Congress, the House has approved a total of 19 of the priority legislations of our President. The rest are in advanced stages of consideration,” he said.
The Speaker cited the swift passage of the P5.268-trillion 2023 national budget that the President signed just last Friday.
He said the House also passed the bill creating the MIF “to serve as an effective vehicle to execute and sustain high-impact infrastructure projects, urban and rural development, agricultural support, and other programs that would generate jobs for our people and spur more economic activity in the country.
“We believe it would likewise serve to shield our economy from headwinds that external factors may bear upon us,” Romualdez said.
He said the 19 bills under LEDAC’s CLA were also approved “because we are in agreement with the Chief Executive that these measures will directly alleviate poverty, trigger economic progress, and harness competencies in government for the delivery of no less than the highest degree of service to the Filipino people.”
“We are set to deliberate and approve the rest of the priority measures when we resume next year,” Romualdez said.
Citing the report of House majority leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, Romualdez said the House of Representatives processed a total of 1,150 bills and resolutions or an average of 28 measures per session during its 41 session days from July 25 to December 15, 2022.
In his report to Romualdez, Dalipe reported that a total of 7,402 measures were filed in the House of Representatives — 6,716 of them bills, 685 resolutions and 263 committee reports.
Dalipe said the chamber approved 173 bills on third and final reading, passed 21 measures on second reading, and adopted 43 resolutions, including Concurrent Resolution No. 2 which supported the 2022-2028 Medium Term Fiscal Framework of the Marcos administration.
The House Majority Leader noted that Romualdez authorized all standing and special committees to hold hearings during the congressional break to “continue with our mandate of producing vital pieces of legislation.”
Romualdez said the House of Representatives looks forward to the enactment of the 19 priority bills it has passed on third and final reading that were part of the LEDAC’s CLA.
These include the following: Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act or PIFITA (The fourth package under the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program or CTRP); the creation of the Virology Institute of the Philippines; agrarian reform debts condonation; Philippine Passport Act, Waste-to-Energy Bill; the national disease prevention management authority or Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Medical Reserve Corps (HEART); Internet Transaction Act / E-Commerce Law; Leyte Ecological Industrial Zone; Eastern Visayas Development Authority (EVDA); Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery (GUIDE) bill; free legal assistance for police and soldiers; Public—Private Partnership (PPP) Act; Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers; Valuation Reform Bill, Apprenticeship Act and the National Citizens Service Training Program (NCSTP).
Completing the 19 LEDAC’s CLA are the two measures that have been signed into law by the President, namely, Republic Act (RA) No. 11934 or An Act Requiring Registration of Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) and RA 11935 or An Act Postponing the December 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections to October 2023.
Last Friday, President Marcos signed RA 11936 or the P5.268-trillion General Appropriations Act for 2023.
