NEWLY elected and current senators buckled down to work yesterday at the start of the 20th Congress, filing various priority measures including a proposed End Endo Act.
Senate President Francis Escudero said the bills he filed centered on championing responsive governance, economic inclusivity, and people-centered reforms, including an act prohibiting any form of interference by national government with the use of the national tax allotment and locally-generated revenues of local government units; amendments to the Local Government Code of 1991; promoting business competitiveness by providing temporary tax relief to certain companies; and lowering the compulsory retirement age of teachers and non-teaching staff to 60 from 65 years.
Escudero earlier said senators have decided to do away with the tradition of allowing the Senate president to be the first one to file priority measures, followed by senior senators based on the number of years they have been senators, then the remaining senators.
Instead, the senators have decided to draw lots to determine the order of filing by batch. The first 10 senators to be drawn will be given priority, to be followed by the next 10, while the four remaining senators can file their bills afterwards.
According to the Bills and Index Section, the senators drawn to first file their bills were Joseph Victor Ejercito, Robin Padilla, Pia Cayetano, Panfilo Lacson, Joel Villanueva, Francis Escudero, Rodante Marcoleta, Jinggoy Estrada, Raffy Tulfo, and Mark Villar.
The second 10 senators are Alan Peter Cayetano, Imee Marcos, Paolo Benigno Aquino, Manuel Lapid, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Erwin Tulfo, Loren Legarda, Christopher Go, Camille Villar, and Vicente Sotto III.
The remaining four are Ronald dela Rosa, Risa Hontiveros, Francis Pangilinan, and Sherwin Gatchalian.
The filing of bills will have a second round but they are not in the same order as the first round of the filing of proposed measures.
In a press conference, Villanueva said that the top 10 priority measures he filed were the Security of Tenure and End Endo Act, Freelance Protection Act, Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa ating Displaced/Disadvantaged Workers Act, Living Wage Act, An Act Expanding the Use of Legal Assistance Fund for OFWs, OFW Hospital Act, Anti-Online Gambling Act, Magna Carta on Religious Freedom Act, People’s Freedom of Information Act, and National Independent Commission Against Corruption Act.
Neophyte senator Erwin Tulfo said he filed a resolution and bills which will fulfill his campaign promises, including a resolution calling for a review on the mandate and functions of the National Food Authority; and measures for the regularization of barangay officials, on land use policy, establishing professional review centers for license examinations in state universities and colleges, and medical parole for old persons deprived of liberty.
EDUCATION BILLS
Aquino said his bills Are related to the education sector as what he promised during the campaign period.
“We’re currently facing an education crisis that must be addressed urgently. We hope these bills will help address the situation and respond to other pressing needs of our education system so every Filipino student can enjoy the quality education they rightfully deserve,” Aquino said.
Aquino is former chairman of Senate education committee.
Estrada said the bills he filed centered on building better lives for Filipinos while championing reforms that promote safer communities and future-proof essential public services.
Among Estrada’s bills are increasing monthly stipend for all senior citizens — P1,000 for indigents, and P500 to non-indigents which will increase after five years; providing 20 percent travel tax discounts to seniors; establishing a Philippine Geriatric Medical Center.
Padilla said he filed bills seeking to amend the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997, providing P150 daily legislated minimum wage to workers in the private sector, and grounds for expanding grounds for the dissolution of marriage, and the Medical Cannabis Act, among others.
Legarda said she filed bills which focus on strengthening the country’s education and livelihood programs.
Meanwhile, PNP chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III said the PNP has begun security preparations for the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Marcos Jr at the Batasang Pambansa complex in Quezon City on July 28.
“We already had initial talks with concerned offices and coordination with the sergeant-at-arms (of the House of Representatives). We already made coordination on this,” he told a press briefing at Camp Crame.
SONAs are traditionally marked by protest actions, mainly from leftist organizations.
Torre declined to say how many policemen will be deployed to secure the SONA, saying it is “classified.”
Some 23,000 policemen secured last year’s SONA which was marred by protests staged by around 3,000 demonstrators.
Police described last year’s SONA as “generally peaceful” with no major untoward incident. – With Victor Reyes
