June 25, 2024

The Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) on Tuesday bared the list of top priority bills that both houses of Congress committed to pass before the current session ends.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. presided the 5th LEDAC Meeting at the Kalayaan Hall in Malacañan Palace.

The LEDAC, chaired by the President, discussed the status of the 25 priority bills agreed upon last year, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.

“The council came up with a list of top priority bills that the members, the leaders of both Congress commit to pass within the remaining period of the current session,” Balisacan said.

“So, these are 10 bills that are considered top priority. And there’s a second list that consists of another 10. I think that’s another 10 bills. And also the other bills that are in advanced stages. That are either at the bicam stages or already enrolled bill[s].”

Balisacan described the meeting as productive and full of enthusiasm. “We see the current leadership of Congress responding to these needs of our economy, of our society, so that we can achieve the socioeconomic transformation that is a program under the Marcos administration,” he said.

Senate President Francis Escudero is optimistic the passage of key legislations will aid the economy and usher socioeconomic transformation under the present administration.

“Well, magandang karanasan. Maganda ang naging usapan sa pagitan ng Kongreso, Kamara, at Senado, at gayundin ang Ehekutibo kaugnay sa mga mahahalaga, makabuluhang panukalang batas na kailangan tutukan sa nananatiling 73 araw ng sesyon ng Kamara at ng Senado,” Escudero said in an interview following the LEDAC meeting.

“At buong pag-asa at paniniwala ko na kaya namin magawa ito,” he added.

House Speaker Martin Romualdez said there is high confidence with the new Senate leadership.

“Siyempre natutuwa po kami kasi sa bagong liderato ng Senado. Lalong tumaas ‘yung [kumpyansa] natin [na] matatapos lahat ‘yung legislative agenda, ng SONA priorities, at saka ng CLA ng ating Presidente, ‘yung Senado at saka ‘yung House,” said Romualdez.

CLA stands for Common Legislative Agenda.

Among the proposed top priorities for passage before the end of the 19th Congress are the Reform to Philippine Capital Markets, Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act, Amendments to the Right-of-Way Act, Excise Tax on Single-Use Plastics, Rationalization of the Mining Fiscal Regime, Amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), Department of Water Resources, CREATE MORE Act, Amendments to the Foreign Investors’ Long-Term Lease Act, and Amendments to the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).

Comprising the second list of priorities are the Blue Economy Act, Enterprise-Based Education and Training Framework Act, Amendments to the Universal Health Care Act, Open Access in Data Transmission Act, Waste-to-Energy Bill, Mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), Unified System of Separation, Retirement and Pension of Military and Uniformed Personnel, E-Government Act/E-Governance Act, Amendments to the Agrarian Reform Law, and the Philippine Immigration Act.

Other bills on advance stages of deliberation are Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, Amendments to the Government Procurement Reform Act, Anti-Financial Accounts Scamming Act, Self-Reliant Defense Posture Revitalization Act, Philippine Maritime Zones Act, Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program Act, VAT on Digital Services and New Government Auditing Code.

So far, 17 CLA bills were signed into law out of the 59 LEDAC CLA bills proposed for passage in the 19th Congress. | PND

Source: https://pco.gov.ph/news_releases/congress-vows-to-pass-top-ledac-proposed-priority-bills/