Maharlika, ROTC, RCEP among Marcos priority bills

MANILA, Philippines — The executive branch and Congress have agreed to push for the passage of 10 priority bills by June 2, including the measures on the mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) and the Maharlika Investment Fund, Malacañang said yesterday.

The measures were adopted for passage by June 2 – the sine die adjournment for the 19th Congress’ first regular session – during the first executive committee meeting of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) yesterday at Malacañang, the Presidential Communications Office said in a statement.

One of the priority bills to be passed at the end of the first regular session is the mandatory ROTC and National Service Training Program, which has been certified as urgent by President Marcos.

The measure was approved on final reading by the House of Representatives last December. The bill will make the National Citizens Service Training Program, which includes military training, compulsory in all private and public tertiary educational institutions. Students who complete the program will be part of the National Service Reserve Corps.

Some youth groups are against the measure, saying lawmakers should instead prioritize pressing issues affecting the education sector such as the safe reopening of schools.

The mandatory ROTC program was abolished in 2002 with the signing of the National Service Training Program (NSTP) law by former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Calls to scrap the mandatory ROTC surfaced after the murder of Mark Chua, a University of Santo Tomas student who exposed the alleged anomalies in his unit.

Also in the list of priority measures to be passed by June is the bill establishing the Maharlika Investment Fund, which is envisioned to become a vehicle for the government to invest in various outlets such as real estate, infrastructure, bonds and foreign currencies.

Supporters of the measure have said the Maharlika fund will promote fiscal stability and support key government projects. However, critics of the bill have claimed that the establishment of the wealth fund is unnecessary and risky.

Other priority bills are the amendments to the Build-Operate-Transfer law/Public-Private Partnership bill, Medical Reserve Corps bill, Philippine Center for Disease Prevention and Control bill, the bill creating the Virology Institute of the Philippines, the measure condoning the unpaid amortization and interests of loans of agrarian reform beneficiaries, proposed Internet Transactions Act/E-Commerce Law, amendments to the law prescribing fixed terms for ranking military officials and the salt industry development bill.

Marcos enumerated his administration’s priority bills in his first State of the Nation Address last July. Officials have said the measures are essential for an effective implementation of the government’s programs, particularly the eight-point socioeconomic agenda.

RCEP ratification

Malacañang said the LEDAC has also vowed to seek the ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a mega free trade deal that requires the concurrence of the Senate.

Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil said Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda expressed commitment to jointly defend RCEP’s ratification on the Senate floor during yesterday’s LEDAC meeting.

Garafil quoted Zubiri as saying that the RCEP was the “talk of the town” during the Philippine delegation’s meetings with government and business leaders in Japan last week.

The RCEP seeks to link together members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – the Philippines, Malaysia Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – and their trade partners China, South Korea, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand. The deal covers trade in goods, trade in services, investment, economic and technical cooperation, intellectual property, competition, dispute settlement, e-commerce, small and medium enterprises and other topics.

The Philippines is the only country among its Southeast Asian neighbors that has not ratified the agreement. Hearings on the RCEP are being conducted at the Senate sub-committee level.

Last Sunday, Marcos said the RCEP would benefit the Philippines because of the increased trade it would bring to different member economies.

“If we do not have the RCEP, we cannot access their markets, especially the supply chains available to the ASEAN,” Marcos said in an interview.

The LEDAC serves as a consultative and advisory body to the President on certain programs and policies. It convened for the second time yesterday under the Marcos administration to track the progress of the priority measures agreed upon in the meeting last October.

“This (approval) is ASAP but we were not forced to give a timetable,” Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva told reporters.

The LEDAC meeting was presided over by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin at the Premier Guest House.

Zubiri, Speaker Martin Romualdez and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan were present during the meeting.

Officials of the Executive branch who attended the meeting include Special Assistant to the President Secretary Antonio Lagdameo Jr., Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual, Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga, Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban, Presidential Legislative Liaison Office chief Mark Llandro Mendoza, Finance Assistant Secretary Valery Brio and Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Juan Victor Llamas.

The legislative branch was represented by Legarda, Villanueva, Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos, Sen. Sonny Angara, Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto, House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan and Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo. – Cecille Suerte Felipe, Paolo Romero