THE Senate has passed 31 landmark bills, 22 of which await the President’s signature for them to be passed into law, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said as the upper chamber adjourned sine die, closing the First Regular Session of the 19th Congress last Wednesday night.
Zubiri said that out of 31 landmark bills that have been passed, six have been enacted into law — four of national application and two local laws.
Of the 22 proposed measures up for the President’s signature, Zubiri said seven are of national application and 15 are local.
Two national bills are pending before the bicameral conference committee while six more bills of national concerns have been approved on third reading.
Zubiri said senators have filed more than 2,200 proposed measures and 630 resolutions and adopted 70 resolutions during the same period, all of which are in the various stages of the legislative process.
One of the measures passed by the Senate was the proposed establishment of the controversial Maharlika Investment Fund (Senate Bill No. 2020), a sovereign wealth fund projected to invest government money and other private and public capital to help revitalize and boost the country’s economy.
The other bills that have been passed into law include the SIM Registration Act, Postponing the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections, and the AFP Fixed Term Law.
The measures awaiting the President’s signature are the Condonation of Unpaid Amortization and Interests on Loans of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries, the Regional Specialty Centers Act, the Extension of the Estate Amnesty Tax Act, and the Maharlika Investment Fund Act.
Passed on third reading and only needing its House counterpart measure before it can move forward is the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Act.
“While this scoreboard shows the quality of our input, it does not describe the quality of each of these measures. True to our tradition, we do not agree to proposals without discussion nor embrace ideas without debate. We improve before we approve. We do not trade scrutiny for speed,” he said.
On local bills, Zubiri said the President has so far approved the Cityhood of Carmona in Cavite, while 14 other local bills, mostly concerning the establishment and conversion of schools, await the Chief Executive’s signature.
Aside from the passage of proposed measures, Zubiri said the Senate has also conducted committee investigations on the overpriced and outdated laptops procured by the Department of Education, the soaring prices of onions, the assassination of Gov. Roel Degamo, the alleged coverup in the 990 kilos of shabu seized from Police M/Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr., systems glitch at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, importation of sugar ahead of a sugar order, and the human trafficking activities of foreigners in the country under the cover of legal POGO companies, among others.
The Senate will reconvene for the Second Regular Session of the 19th Congress on July 24.
