4 vital bills top Senate priorities

After a three-week vacation, the Senate will again try to enact at least four vital measures as the 12th Congress resumes its Second Regular Session today.

Majority Leader Loren Legarda said yesterday administration senators are set to hold a caucus this morning to discuss how to shepherd the passage of the four measures which have been stuck in the legislative mill for several months.

The four bills are the proposed Special Purpose Assets Vehicle (SPAV) Act of 2002, the franchise of the National Transmission Corp. (Transco), the Absentee Voting BIll and the measure creating the Department of Housing and Urban Development (DHUD), Legarda said.

The ruling coalition is also set to meet with opposition senators in the afternoon to finalize the Senate calendar, Legarda added.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan, for his part, urged his colleagues to pass the four vital measures and not allow political intramurals to derail them.

"I hope my colleagues will support these three bills aimed at promoting justice and urban development. I expect to deliberate on these bills before we focus on next year’s budget," Pangilinan said.

"I’m optimistic that there will be less politicking this time. Our country deserves better than that. What we need now is cooperation from both camps," he added.

All of the four pending measures have barely moved through Congress. Three of them — the SPAV bill, the Transco franchise and the absentee voting measure — were even sidelined during the opposition’s ill-fated revamp bid in June.

The bill creating the DHUD has already been approved by the Senate committee on housing, headed by Pangilinan, but the measure has yet to be tackled on the Senate floor.

Luckier than the housing department bill is the SPAV measure which has been reported out by the Senate committee on ways and means, headed by Sen. Ralph Recto and is now undergoing deliberation on the Senate floor.

The SPAV bill seeks to help banks dispose of their bad loans to encourage them to finance the expansion of businesses all over the country.

The proposed Transco franchise, on the other hand, is awaiting deliberation on the Senate floor after three committees lashed the bills supposed weak points.

The most controversial of the four measures is the absentee voting bill which will allow at least seven million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to vote in Philippine elections while they are abroad.