House vows ‘swift passage’ of LEDAC-endorsed bills

MANILA, Philippines — The 30 endorsed bills that comprise the legislative agenda of President Marcos will be passed by the House of Representatives “with dispatch,” without sacrificing the quality of legislation, Speaker Martin Romualdez said yesterday.

“The House and the Senate will give these 30 measures utmost priority. President Marcos clearly spelled out a roadmap of governance in the next six years for economic recovery, with agriculture as the major engine for growth and employment,” he said, referring to the bills approved or listed during this week’s meeting of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) as its Common Legislative Agenda (CLA), presided over by Marcos.

These vital pieces of legislation are expected to create jobs and help as well the country’s health and economic recovery to protect the country’s most vulnerable people following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The two bills that were also adopted were the newly signed SIM Card Registration Law or Republic Act 11934 – Marcos’ first law – and the deferment of the December 2022 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to October 2023, which is now awaiting Marcos’ signature.

Romualdez said the House also invoked and will continue to use Rule 10, Section 48, which authorizes the House committees to dispose of priority measures already filed and approved on third reading in the immediately preceding Congress.

“We have the internal mechanism for an expeditious approval process that is enshrined in the rules of procedure,” he said, explaining that this would greatly hasten consideration and endorsement by any committee of any covered bill and its eventual plenary approval.

“The House is in full support of the President’s entire legislative agenda, including the key priority measures for legislation he has asked Congress to consider. We will act on these with dispatch,” Romualdez said.

“With the guidance and support of President Marcos Jr. and the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, these priority measures will become laws, which the Filipino people can benefit from,” he stressed.

Twenty of these measures were enumerated by Marcos in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 25, and were included in the 30 CLA bills.

“I am proud to say that the members of both houses of Congress have already filed bills on the 20 priority measures identified by President Marcos,” Romualdez said.

The 20 priority measures enumerated by Marcos in his SONA that were part of the total 32 CLA bills were the Valuation Reform Bill, Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act (PIFITA), E-Governance Act, E-Government Act, Internet Transaction Act, Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery (GUIDE) bill, Medical Reserve Corps bill, National Disease Prevention Management Authority bill, Virology Institute of the Philippines bill, Unified System of Separation, Retirement and Pension bill, Department of Water Resources bill, National Land Use Act, Mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and National Service Training Program, Budget Modernization bill, National Government Rightsizing Program, National Defense Act, Enactment of an Enabling Law for the Natural Gas Industry, Amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, Amendments to the Build-Operate-Transfer Law and the Condonation of Unpaid Amortization and Interests of Loans of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries.