House OKs 23 priority bills, adjourns for Holy Week

MANILA, Philippines — As Congress goes on recess for the Holy Week, the House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading 23 of 31 bills identified by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) as priority measures of the Marcos administration.

Speaker Martin Romualdez said two of the 23 measures have already been signed into law by President Marcos, while the remaining eight bills under LEDAC priority are in “advanced stages of deliberation.”

“We have done our share in passing important pieces of legislation that will help the country recover from the crippling impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and external shocks that adversely affect the economy and the nation,” Romualdez said.

The 31 LEDAC priority measures, collectively called the Common Legislative Agenda of Malacañang, Senate and the House of Representatives, were drawn from dozens of legislative measures filed in Congress to “further stimulate economic activities, create job opportunities, reduce poverty and provide better health care services for Filipinos.”

The two bills enacted by Marcos are the mobile phone SIM (subscriber information module) Registration Act, now under implementation, and the measure postponing the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to October this year.

The other LEDAC-endorsed bills approved by the House include the Magna Carta of Seafarers, E-Governance Act / E-Government Act, Negros Island Region, Virology Institute of the Philippines, Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act, National Disease Prevention Management Authority or Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Medical Reserve Corps, Philippine Passport Act; Internet Transaction Act / E-Commerce Law, Waste-to-Energy Bill, Free Legal Assistance for Police and Soldiers, Apprenticeship Act and Build-Operate-Transfer  Law.?

Also approved were the Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers, Valuation Reform, Eastern Visayas Development Authority, Leyte Ecological Industrial Zone, Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery, National Citizens Service Training Program and Rightsizing the National Government.