House resumes session, to ratify 2021 budget

MANILA, Philippines — After a monthlong break, the House of Representatives will resume session today to focus on priority bills and the immediate ratification of the P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021.

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco has also started a relief effort after Typhoon Ulysses pounded several parts of southern Luzon, causing severe flooding in low-lying areas in Metro Manila and nearby provinces like Rizal and Cagayan in northern Luzon.

“Typhoon Ulysses was strong, but Filipinos will prove themselves stronger as we did during Ondoy (in September 2009) and all other devastating typhoons, including the recent Quinta and Rolly,” the lone Marinduque congressman said.

At the same time, he said the 300-man legislative chamber is ready to buckle down to work with strict physical distancing and health protocols in place amid the continuing threat of COVID-19.

“We need to hit the ground running and make full use of this year’s remaining sessions to tackle and pass priority measures, especially those that have been certified urgent by President Duterte,” Velasco said.

Majority Leader Martin Romualdez said the House has a “full plate of priority bills” scheduled for plenary approval and committee deliberation, hinting the validity of the Bayanihan 2 Law will most likely be extended following a series of calamities.

“We are considering filing and expediting the approval of a bill that would extend the validity of the Bayanihan 2 bill to enable the national government to complete the release of our P140-billion response to the pandemic even after the end of 2020,” he said.

Among the pieces of legislation up for plenary interpellation are House Bills 7904 (Amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act), 7749 (Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery), 7425 (Digital Transactions VAT), 7406 (Bureau of Fire Protection Modernization Program), 6135 (Fiscal Mining Regime) and 7425 (Internet Transactions Act/E-Commerce Law).

House Deputy Majority Leader Bernadette Herrera pressed anew the Senate to pass the bill creating the Department of Disaster Resilience after the devastation brought to the country by succeeding strong typhoons.

“We hope our good senators will take a second look at the significance of the DDR bill which the House overwhelmingly approved on third and final reading last September,” the Bagong Henerasyon party-list congresswoman said.

“We can minimize the loss of life and damage to property if we create a single, permanent agency that will bring better disaster preparedness and efficient delivery of government services during calamities,” Herrera said.

The House leader also allayed concerns raised by senators about the funding requirements of the DDR bill considering that the creation of a new agency would mean another cost or expense for the national government, especially during this time of pandemic.

“The DDR will be funded initially by the unexpended appropriation of all the agencies absorbed or transferred to the DDR,” Herrera said.

She said some adjustments may be expected while the DDR is being created, manned and empowered, but its benefits will be felt once it has been fully established.

“We can no longer allow for the same problems to occur every storm, every typhoon, every calamity, when we all know we can do better through a central agency,” she said.