BY RAYMOND AFRICA and WENDELL VIGILIA
SENATE President Juan Miguel Zubiri yesterday said the Senate has committed to pass the 20 priority measures of the Marcos Jr. administration by the end of the year and said lawmakers will immediately buckle back to work as the Second Regular Session of 19th Congress opens today.
“We made a commitment that on the part of the Senate, we will pass 20 priority bills by December 2023. We need to hit the ground running,” Zubiri said.
Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez promised the House of Representatives will approve the P5.768 trillion proposed national budget for 2024 before its first recess in October, which he said Malacañang is expected to submit to Congress immediately after his second SONA.
Romualdez said that if the budget proposal is submitted on time, the House will have a longer timetable to scrutinize the proposed national expenditure program for 2024.
“I’m sure we’ll finish the budget before our October break. We average five weeks of solid work on budget deliberations, consideration, review, and approval through third reading,” he told reporters as he stressed that the national expenditure bill is the most important piece of legislation in the House’s priority list now.
The proposed national budget for next year is P500 billion higher than this year’s P5.268-trillion spending program.
The Constitution gives the Executive department 30 days after the opening of the regular session to submit its budget proposal to Congress.
Among the priority measures lined up in the Senate are the proposed amendments to the Public-Private Partnership Act, creation of a National Disease Prevention Management Authority, the proposed Internet Transactions Act, the establishment of the Medical Reserve Corps and the Virology Institute of the Philippines, the reinstatement of the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Program, and the bill revitalizing the Philippines’ salt industry.
Senators are also set to work on the approval of measures aimed at improving and streamlining government transactions and services, including the proposed Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act, the proposed E-Governance and E-Government Act, Ease of Paying Taxes Act, the National Government Rightsizing Act, Automatic Income Classification of Local Government Units, bills providing for a Unified System for Separation, Retirement and Pension of Military and Uniformed Services, and the New Philippine Passport law.
Zubiri also said the upper chamber also looking at the passage of the proposed Waste-to-Energy Act, Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers, the proposed “Trabaho Para Sa Bayan” Act, the Anti-Financial Scamming Act, and proposed amendments to the Bank Secrecy law.
Zubiri said the Senate is also committed to pass a legislated daily wage increase law even if it is not on the priority list.
He said the upper chamber is also pushing for the third reading passage of the Philippine Defense Industry Development Act, Cybersecurity Act, and the proposed amendments to the procurement provisions of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Act.
As a continuing action to uphold the country’s sovereign rights on the West Philippine Sea, Zubiri said the Senate is also set to adopt the resolution filed by Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros calling on the Marcos government to bring China’s incursions on Philippine waters before the United Nations General Assembly.
The Senate will open its session this morning after which senators will proceed to the House of Representatives to witness President Marcos Jr.’s second SONA in the afternoon.
Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III said the Senate should focus its discussions on non-controversial measures to ensure that the priority measures will be passed before the year ends.
He said the mandatory ROTC bill and creation of the Centers for Disease Control have several controversial provisions that will take a lot of time before they are passed.
He said even the amendments to the military and uniformed personnel pension system is expected to generate long debates.
Romualdez vowed to expeditiously scrutinize the next national budget through a transparent process, assuring the public that “we will get the widest consensus on our spending plan among our members.”
He assured the nation that the House would make sure that “every centavo of the national budget will be spent wisely by ensuring that spending will contribute to economic and national development.”
“The House of the People will effectively respond to the needs of the people to address the continued impact of the health crisis, create more jobs, and ensure food security,” he said.
The Speaker also said the House would look into how the annual budget is being used and how laws, particularly the New Agrarian Emancipation Act, will be implemented.
The House will also work on approving the remaining nine of the 44 urgent measures identified by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), as well as look for funding source for the pension fund of soldiers, policemen, and other uniformed personnel.
The nine remaining LEDAC bills in the House are the proposed natural gas industry enabling law, Philippine ecosystem and natural capital accounting system bill, the proposed National Employment Action Plan, proposed Department of Water Services and Resources, amendments to the Electric Power Industry Act, Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act. proposed Budget Modernization Act, proposed National Defense Act, and proposed unified system of separation, retirement, and pension for uniformed personnel.
The LEDAC now has 44 priority bills from 42 with the inclusion of the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA) and the bill amending the Bank Secrecy law.
AFASA and the bill Amending Bank Secrecy Law have both been approved by the House of Representatives on third and final reading and were transmitted to the Senate for action even before its inclusion to LEDAC measures, bringing to 35 the 44 LEDAC bills that were passed by the institution.
Before the First Regular Session of the 19th Congress ended last June, the House had approved 33 out of the 42 priority measures identified by LEDAC, which includes among others the controversial Maharlika Investment Fund.
IDENTIFY MUP FUNDING SOURCE
Romualdez also assured the military and uniformed personnel (MUP) that the P120 billion needed for the pension fund of soldiers, policemen, and other uniformed personnel will be resolved this year, saying he has already directed the Committees on Appropriations and Ways and Means to find funding sources.
He said the government needs P120 billion annually or P3.6 trillion for the next 30 years to resolve the problems of the MUP, like the backlog and the growing number of retirees every year.
Romualdez said this fund must self-gen erate like President Marcos Jr. has said to avoid depleting the pension fund and let it earn and grow beyond those 30 years.
“We have to take care of our troops and our uniformed personnel for they keep our nation and people safe every day,” said the House leader.
Rep. Elizaldy Co (PL, Ako Bicol), chairperson of the House appropriation panel, said the pension fund could be put up by using the savings of the government and reducing government spending through the scrapping of less important projects.
Co said that based on the computation that he and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, who is the chairperson of the House Committee on Ways and Means panel, the government needs P3.6 trillion to fund the MUP pension.
“Rest assured before the end of 2023, we will find a win-win solution for everyone,” said the lawmaker.
The members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police have earlier rejected the proposal of the Department of Finance (DOF) to deduct a portion from the salaries of MUPs to set up the pension fund.
The DOF had been suggesting to past presidents since 2006 to find a resolution to the pension of soldiers and policemen after the shutdown of the Retirement Savings and Benefits System (RSBS) which was plagued by corruption.
