Palace to endorse bills to new admin

MANILA, Philippines — The Duterte administration will endorse to the incoming government of president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. its priority bills that will be bypassed by Congress.

Cabinet Secretary Melvin Matibag said the endorsement of priority measures would form part of the transition to the next administration.

“We will make endorsements, but of course, we will respect the prerogatives of the incoming administration on their choice of priority legislations (that) need to be passed,” Matibag told The STAR in a text message yesterday.

He said the passage of laws involves a joint effort of the executive and legislative branches of government.

“We have to be mindful that the effort to pass a law does not only come from Malacañang,” he said.

Matibag was responding to a question on why the proposed National Land Use Act, one of the bills that President Duterte mentioned in his previous State of the Nation Addresses, was not passed.

Data from the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office showed that more than 30 priority bills of the President are not yet enacted into law.

Aside from the proposed National Land Use Act, other legislative priorities of the President that are pending in Congress include the bill creating the department of disaster resilience, the passive income tax and financial intermediary tax reform, a measure creating a unified pension system for the military and uniformed personnel, the Virology and Vaccine Institute of the Philippines, department of water resources bill, the government rightsizing bill, a measure reimposing death penalty by lethal injection, the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps bill and the measure providing free legal assistance to uniformed personnel.

Digital workforce

The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading a bill that aims to improve the country’s digital workforce competitiveness.

With a vote of 18-0-0, senators approved Senate Bill 1834 or the proposed Digital Workforce Competitiveness Act.

The measure aims to enhance the digital competence of workers and equip them with skills to make them globally competitive.

Sen. Joel Villanueva, principal author of the bill, said the measure underscores the need for the Filipino workforce to be globally competitive with the development of digital careers.

Senators also approved on Monday House Bill 10306, which proposes to expand the franchise granted to MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) and allow it to serve more consumers in Iloilo.

The bill seeks to authorize the firm to operate in the city of Passi as well as in the municipalities of Alimodian, Leganes, Leon, New Lucena, Pavia, San Miguel, Santa Barbara, Zarraga, Anilao, Banate, Barotac Nuevo, Dingle, Duenas, Dumangas and San Enrique.

MORE Power currently distributes electricity in Iloilo City.

The chamber also passed House Bill 10554 to expand the franchise area of Davao Light and Power Co. Inc. (DLPC), another distribution utility which operates in Davao City, Panabo City and the municipalities of Carmen, Dujali and Sto. Tomas in Davao del Norte.

If signed into law, the bill will expand DLPC’s services to Tagum City, the Island Garden City of Samal, Asuncion, Kapalong, New Corella, San Isidro and Talaingod in Davao del Norte. – Cecille Suerte Felipe, Paolo Romero, Delon Porcalla