House passes 12 of 48 LEDAC priority bills

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading 12 out of the 48 Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) priority measures of President Marcos, according to House majority leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos.

“Under the leadership of Speaker (Faustino) Bojie (Dy), we wanted the first months of the 20th Congress to send a clear signal that the House is serious about delivering on the LEDAC,” Representative Marcos said in a statement yesterday.

The younger Marcos said the LEDAC scorecard crowns a busy first regular session that saw 7,030 bills and 645 resolutions filed, 86 measures approved and 584 measures processed by the House committees and the plenary in just 22 session days.

“This signifies the hard work and unity of House members in passing these vital pieces of legislation,” the lawmaker-son of Marcos added, saying they have put the President’s reform agenda “at the center of the chamber’s work in the first regular session of the 20th Congress.”

The young Marcos said one national law has so far been transmitted to the President (2026 national budget) – and that they have also generated 52 adopted resolutions, while 32 House-approved bills, 26 of which are national and six local measures, await Senate action.

He explained that of the 48-item LEDAC, 12 bills were already approved on third and final reading, five measures approved by the committee and awaiting comments from the appropriations and ways and means panels, 15 measures under technical working group or committee deliberation, and 17 measures that are queued for full committee hearings.

Among the bills that hurdled the third and final reading were:

1) EPIRA amendments to strengthen the Energy Regulatory Commission’s oversight and consumer protection powers;

2) Waste-to-energy bill on waste treatment technology;

3) National Center for Geriatric Health;

4) Amendments to the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education Act;

5) Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) Act;

6) Amendments to the National Building Code;

7) Blue Economy Act;

8) National Reintegration Bill;

9) Amendments to the Teachers Professionalization Act;

10) Extension of the Estate Tax Amnesty Period;

11) Department of Water Resources bill; and

12) Amendments to the Bank Deposits Secrecy Law.

Five other LEDAC measures that have already cleared their main substantive committees and now await the input of the appropriations and ways and means panels, are:

1) Bill modernizing the Bureau of Immigration;

2) National Land Use Act;

3) Measure creating the Independent People’s Commission;

4) Presidential Merit Scholarship Program; and

5) Amendments to the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.

“These are big structural reforms, from land use to immigration to scholarships, and we want to make sure that when they reach the plenary, their funding and fiscal implications are fully worked out,” Marcos said.