LAWMAKERS from the Senate and the House of Representatives yesterday identified 20 priority measures for approval by the end of the year during the meeting of the second Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), which was convened by President Marcos Jr. on Wednesday.
The measures include proposed amendments of the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) law/Public-Private Partnership Act (PPP) bill, the National Disease Prevention Management Authority, the Internet Transactions Act/E-Commerce law, the Health Emergency Auxiliary Reinforcement Team or HEART Act, formerly called the Medical Reserve Corps; and the Mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (ROTC) and National Service Training Program.
The other measures include the proposed Virology Institute of the Philippines, the bill seeking to revitalize the salt industry, the Valuation Reform bill (or Tax package 3), the E-Government/E-Governance Act, the Ease of Paying Taxes bill, the National Government Rightsizing Program, the Unified System of Separation/Retirement and Pension of military and uniformed personnel (MUP), the Local Government Unit Classification bill, the Waste-to-Energy bill, the New Philippine Passport Act, the Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers, the National Employment Action Plan, and proposed amendments to the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act.
The 18 measures have been included in the priority measures identified during the first LEDAC in October last year, some of which were endorsed to Congress by the President during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) last year.
The two additional priority measures which Congress promised to approve the year are the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas-endorsed Bank Deposit Secrecy and the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA) bills.
MAHARLIKA BILL
Malacañang received on Tuesday the enrolled copy of the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill that was passed by Congress before lawmakers went on a seven-week sine die break last month.
Press Secretary Cheloy Garafil, in a message to the media on Wednesday, said the copy was received by the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs (ODESLA), which is now reviewing the measure to ensure its constitutionality.
Garafil said no date has been set yet for the signing of the controversial bill. The President certified the bill as urgent last May 22.
The Maharlika bill is one of the three priority bills that are awaiting the signature of the President, the other two being the Emancipation Bill or the Condonation of Unpaid Amortization and Interest of Loans of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries that was transmitted to the Office of the President (OP) last June 8, and the Department of Health Specialty Centers Act or the regional specialty hospital that was passed by the bicameral committee last May. The proposed Emancipation Act is expected to be signed into law on Friday.
The President has so far signed three measures included in the priority list of the Marcos administration: Republic Act No. 11934 or the SIM Registration Act, RA 11935 or the Act Postponing the December 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections, and RA 1139 or the “Act Further Strengthening Professionalism and Promoting the Continuity of Policies and Modernization Initiatives in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”
The SIM Card and the BSKE postponement laws were signed on October 10, 2022, while RA 1139 signed on May 17, 2023.
Other bills included in the government’s more than 40 priority measures last year that have already been passed in the House and awaiting actions in the Senate include the Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act (PIFITA), the National Land Use Act (NALUA), Enabling Law for the Natural Gas Industry, Apprenticeship Law, and the Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System (PENCAS).
Also included are the Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery (GUIDE), Free Legal Assistance for Police and Soldiers, Negros Island Region, Leyte Ecological Industrial Zone, Eastern Visayas Development Authority, Philippine Immigration Bill, Comprehensive Infrastructure Development Master Plan, and the Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers.
Five bills that are in various legislative process stages in both the Senate and the House are the Budget Modernization Bill, Amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, Department of Water Resources, National Defense Act, and amendments to the Universal Healthcare Act.
In a statement after the meeting, Zubiri said: “It was a productive meeting, and President Marcos was very participative, with his questions on the problems and bottlenecks in some of the bills.”
Zubiri said the House proposed 15 additional bills on agriculture, industry and services, infrastructure, digital regulatory frameworks, transport, good governance, energy, environment, and domestic resources, among them the Excise Tax on Single-Use Plastic, the Sustainable Urban Mobility Act, and the act rationalizing the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas also proposed two more bills – the Bank Deposits Secrecy Bill and the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act.
Outside of these proposed inclusions, Zubiri also gave the executive and the House of Representatives an update on the remaining common legislative agenda (CLA) measures in the Senate, led by the National Employment Action Plan, which has already been approved on third reading.
“Of the remaining 35 measures in the Common Legislative Agenda, nine are pending on Second Reading in the Senate and all nine have been approved on Third Reading in the House,” Zubiri reported.
The nine are the National Disease Prevention Management Authority or the Center for Disease Control Act, the Mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corps and NSTP Act, the Internet Transactions Act, the Amendments to the Build-Operate-Transfer Law or the Public-Private Partnership Act, the act Revitalizing the Salt Industry, the Magna Carta for Filipino Seafarers, the New Philippine Passport Act, the LGU Income Classification Act, and the Ease of Paying Taxes Act.
Zubiri said 26 bills are still pending at the committee level in the Senate but are “ready to be reported out in the plenary once we resume session.” “Once we resume session, we will hit the ground running on these measures, especially on the measures that we are targeting to pass by the end of the year,” he said. — With Raymond Africa
