Senate adjourns for Lenten break, cites key legislation

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate adjourned its first regular session last Wednesday for the annual Lenten break and will resume on May 4.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said the Senate has passed people-centric legislation that include the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, Philippine High School for Sports Act and the Good Manners and Right Conduct Comprehensive Values Education Act.

“We are adjourning during this First Regular Session on the heels of increasing COVID-19 incidents wherein the Senate itself suspended session since Monday evening to Wednesday afternoon and instituted skeletal force schedules in our attempt to prevent further spread of COVID-19 by practicing social distancing as a whole institution,” he added.

Before it went on recess, the Senate passed on third reading the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, which repeals the Human Security Act of 2007 in order to provide a strong legal backbone toward the protection of the life, liberty and property of Filipinos against the evils of terrorism.

It also passed the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Legal Assistance Fund or Senate Bill 1233 to expand the use of a fund meant to help more than 10 million Filipinos working in foreign lands.

Zubiri cited Senate Bill 1086, which establishes the Philippine high school for sports to train and develop future generations of Filipino world champion athletes; Senate Bill 1224 or the GMRC Comprehensive Values Education Act to equip Filipinos with the necessary skills and values to be citizens with good manners and ethical convictions; and Senate Bill 1296 which creates the Philippine Energy Research and Policy Institute, a government think tank for critical research and policy development to recommend reforms in the energy sector.

“Besides the passage of these measures, we adopted several resolutions, foremost of which was Senate Resolution 312, expressing the sense of the Senate for the President to reconsider his plan to withdraw from the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States of America,” he said.

The Senate also adopted Senate Resolution 337 asking the Supreme Court to rule on whether or not the Senate must concur in the abrogation of a treaty that was previously concurred in by the upper chamber; Resolution 15, which backs the issuance of a provisional permit to enable ABS-CBN to continue operating beyond the expiry of its franchise this May.

‘Record breaking output’

At the House of Representatives, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano cited the “record-breaking output” of the 18th Congress through the support of his colleagues who share the vision to support the President’s legislative agenda.

Cayetano congratulated Majority Leader Martin Romualdez for the “double, triple, quadruple” output that showed a 400-percent increase on measures approved on third reading and a 300-percent increase on those approved on second reading.

He added that in terms of approved bills in the committees and in the plenary, records show 175 measures approved as of December compared with only 63 in the first six months of the regular session.   

“We are committed to sustain the momentum of the productive and positive performance the House of the People has gained so far,” Cayetano stressed.

Among the approved measures are the establishment of the National Academy of Sports System and the creation of the Department of Filipinos Overseas and Foreign Employment.

Also passed on third reading are the proposed amendments to the Public Service Act, which will allow foreign nationals to own and operate public utilities in the Philippines and attract more foreign investors, and the proposed GMRC and Values Education Act that was ratified by both the Senate and the House.

Cayetano also mentioned the passage of tax reform measures that include the Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act, Corporate Income Tax and Incentive Rationalization Act and the Real Property Valuation and Assessment Act.

The General Appropriations Act of 2020, Salary Standardization Law of 2019, Malasakit Center Act, Postponement of the Conduct of the 2020 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections were also mentioned among the House’s output.   – With Bebot Sison Jr.