LAWMAKERS rallied behind President Rodrigo Duterte’s positive response to the holding of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council sometime in September and October to harmonize the administration’s legislative agenda.
In separate interviews, Leyte Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez, Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte and Lipa City Rep. Vilma Santos-Recto said the convening of Ledac would speed up the implementation of infrastructure projects and guarantee the passage of key laws needed by the Duterte administration.
“This is a welcome development to further strengthen the Executive and Legislative partnerships in implementing public infrastructure projects and development programs for fair distribution of the benefits of economic growth,” Romualdez said.
Romualdez, wife of former House Independent Bloc Leader and ex-Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, said Ledac will help lawmakers “formulate a game plan to ensure the passage of President Duterte’s legislative agenda and avoid the vetoing of laws in the future as an offshoot of the possible lack of coordination.”
Villafuerte stressed the need for Malacañang to convene the Ledac ahead of schedule to tackle urgent measures in Congress, including the proposal to postpone the holding of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections due this October 31.
“We laud the Duterte administration’s resolve to promote a much better working relationship between the executive and legislative departments by revitalizing this once dormant advisory council,” said Villafuerte, author of House Bill 1290 which aims to postpone the barangay and SK polls from October 31, 2016 to February 27, 2017.
Villafuerte said convening the Ledac sooner than originally scheduled has now become even more urgent following the recent separate pronouncements made by President Duterte himself and Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez supporting calls to postpone the village and SK polls in October.
Santos-Recto, a multi-awarded actress, said the holding of Ledac meetings on regular basis as desired by the President is a welcome development.
“It’s a good move on the part of President Duterte to convene the Ledac. I really welcome this, as a signal that Congress is the partner of the President to achieve development of the country,” Santos-Recto said.
“It’s important that the executive and the legislative meet on a regular basis. This means that the President and his administration is sincere in implementing and ensuring that infrastructure development projects will be prioritized, to resolve traffic problem in Metro Manila, among other issues,” she added.