MANILA, Philippines — Speaker Martin Romualdez has expressed gratitude to Filipinos for appreciating the hard work that lawmakers have done to improve their lives, following the latest “very good” scorecard that members of the House of Representatives received in the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.
“This is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our legislators in serving the Filipino people during these challenging times. As the leader of the House, I am proud of our members and their commitment to advancing pro-people legislative measures,” Romualdez said.
At the same time, the House leader, who represents Leyte’s first district, commended his colleagues in the House – both from the majority and minority blocs – following the “very good” net satisfaction rating that the chamber received in SWS’ Dec. 10-14, 2022 survey.
“As House leader, I am deeply honored, humbled, and grateful to the Filipino people for their trust and confidence in the House,” he said.
“With all humility, thank you for the continued trust and confidence in me,” he added.
Cavite 4th District Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr., who chairs the House committee on natural resources, said House members “take their cue from Speaker Romualdez, who is visibly one of the most productive, diligent and industrious leaders that the lower chamber has ever seen.”
“If our leaders are busy, we are all busy. We take after the example of our beloved Speaker. We move at his pace. This is the reason that the House has been very productive in passing bills and resolutions, owing in no small part to its leaders,” Barzaga said.
The House of Representatives, along with the Senate, Supreme Court and the Marcos Cabinet, scored a “very good” net satisfaction rating in the SWS survey.
It scored a +56 rating, next to the Senate with +68, while the SC and Cabinet scored +53 and +50, respectively.
23 Ledac-OK’d priority bills
Before it went on a break last March 24, the House had churned out and approved on third and final reading 23 of the total 31 priority bills set by the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) since the 19th Congress convened in July last year.
A tally by The STAR showed out of these 23, two priority measures have already been signed into law by Marcos: the Mandatory SIM Card Registration Law and the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections this Oct. 31.
This means that on the average, the chamber approved almost three important pieces of legislation every month, or for the last nine months since the Marcos administration took over the reins of government in the middle of last year.
Only eight pending bills will be deliberated upon when Congress resumes session on May 8 and goes on recess again on June 2 for sine die adjournment, after which the next session will be on July 24 for Marcos’ second SONA.