MANILA, Philippines — Several landmark bills, including some in Malacañang and Congress’ common list of priority measures, are expected to be passed before June 2, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said yesterday.
Zubiri said that while the Senate and House of Representatives have only four weeks left before Congress adjourns sine die, there are several measures already lined up for approval, including some in the list drawn up by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).
The LEDAC is the agenda-setting body chaired by the President with leaders from the two houses of Congress and representatives from various sectors and the local government units as members.
“We have many ‘happy bills’ that are lined up for approval and also prioritize those that have been already sponsored,” Zubiri told dzBB radio in Filipino yesterday, referring to bills that have been reported out to the Senate plenary by committees for debates and passage.
After going on recess last March, the Senate President said there may be a need to prod some committees to work faster and produce more “output” or urgent bills for the plenary to discuss and pass.
For today, senators will hold a caucus before resuming session this afternoon. Last Saturday, Zubiri said he and Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva met to line up measures that can be approved in the coming weeks.
These bills include the proposed amendments to the Build-Operate-Transfer Law, the proposed Medical Reserves Act, establishment of the Centers for Disease Control, creation of the Virology Institute, the proposed Internet Transactions Act, the Philippine Passport Act and the bill creating the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF).
Some pet bills not in the LEDAC list are also expected to be passed like the one seeking to revitalize the country’s salt industry and the proposed minimum wage hike.
On lingering concerns that the MIF could be abused or be a source of corruption, Zubiri said, “There will be safeguards and we can assure the public that this will not be used for corruption, not used for personal gain nor for money laundering. It will be managed by professionals not political appointees.”
‘Keep watch’
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III gave assurance that his bloc will continue to closely monitor the agenda of the majority.
“That’s our mission – to keep watch over the agenda of the majority. We are aware of the priority bills, we’ll scrutinize all of them, we will ask the questions in the minds of our people in these bills,” Pimentel told dwIZ last Saturday.
Since July 2022, a total of 23 out of 31 measures approved by the LEDAC have been sent to the Senate for concurrence. This was prior to Congress’ adjournment before the Holy Week break in April.
These proposed pieces of legislation support the President’s Agenda for Prosperity and his eight-point socio-economic roadmap, Speaker Martin Romualdez said. — Delon Porcalla