EDITORIAL - Priorities

When the 14th Congress resumes session next Monday, it will have only three weeks left to work before it adjourns for the official start of the campaign period on Feb. 9. That brief period must not be wasted on matters that have no hope of being approved by both chambers, such as Charter change.

Just reconciling the two chambers’ versions of the same bills will eat up most of the time of lawmakers. Among the bills up for bicameral deliberation are the Expanded Senior Citizens’ Act, the Magna Carta for Persons with Disabilities, and the Freedom of Information Act. Senators also want to pass amendments to the National Telecommunications Commission law, as well as legislation that will strengthen the fight against cyber crimes.

Lawmakers must also discuss whether there is a need to hold the general elections in Maguindanao ahead of the rest of the nation, especially with lawlessness appearing to be on the rise in the province despite the prevailing state of emergency.

Congress must also rush the printing of the General Appropriations Act of 2010, which Malacañang said President Arroyo would sign as soon as it reaches her desk. Amid criticism that the President was delaying the signing to take advantage of a re-enacted budget, Palace officials said the GAA had not yet been submitted by Congress for her signature.

The executive may also push for the passage of fiscal and other measures that the President wants to put in place before the end of her term. Some lawmakers, meanwhile, want to use the three weeks to conduct inquiries into certain recent events and controversies.

All those tasks would already take up much of the three weeks left in the session. A last-ditch effort to rewrite the Constitution, which is reportedly being planned by some pro-administration members of the House of Representatives, will simply be a waste of precious legislative time, particularly with the majority of senators vowing to block any attempt to tackle Charter change. When the session resumes next week, lawmakers should have their priorities in place.