The House of Representatives will focus on passing the 2024 national budget while hastening the approval of the priority bills of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. before the year ends.
Speaker Martin Romualdez said lawmakers will work overtime if necessary to comprehensively scrutinize the proposed P5.768 trillion National Expenditure Program to fulfill its “power of the purse” mandate as well as the priority measures approved during the 2nd Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) on Wednesday.
“Your House of Representatives will work even harder when the 2nd regular session of Congress opens this month, beginning with the State of the Nation Address of our President,” Romualdez said.
“With our firm commitment to approve the remaining priority measures agreed upon during the LEDAC meetings, various House panels will continue working during committee deliberations of the proposed 2024 NEP,” he added.
Romualdez said that if the productivity of the House of Representatives during the first year of the 19th Congress was any indication, he is confident that the chamber can accomplish its goals for the rest of 2023.
“If members of the House of Representatives will work with the same passion and vigor they exhibited during the First Regular Session, I have no doubt that we can do better this time around,” he said.
During the first 10 months of the 19th Congress, the House has processed a total of 9,600 measures: 8,490 bills, 1,109 resolutions and one petition, or an average of 30 measures for each session day.
Lawmakers were also able to approve on third and final reading 33 out of 42 bills listed as priority measures of President Marcos and the LEDAC.
“Processes and systems can always be improved. I believe there are still better ways we can perform our mandate of legislation without sacrificing the quality of our work,” the Speaker said.
On Wednesday, the LEDAC chaired by the President approved 20 bills that must be passed by the end of the year, including the Bank Deposit Secrecy measure that will allow the Central Bank to open accounts for cases involving money laundering and terrorism.
Aside from the Bank Deposit Secrecy bill, other priority measures are as follows: Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act; Build-Operate-Transfer Law or the Public-Private Partnership Bill; National Disease Prevention Management Authority; Internet Transactions Act or E-Commerce Law; Medical Reserve Corps; Virology Institute of the Philippines; Mandatory ROTC and NSTP; Revitalizing the Salt Industry; Valuation Reform; E-Government or E-Governance Act; Ease of Paying Tax; National Government Rightsizing Program; Unified System of Separation,
Retirement and Pension of MUPs; LGU Income Classification; Waste-to-Energy Bill; New Philippine Passport Act; Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers; National Employment Action Plan; and Amendments to the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act.
The Palace said 18 of the 20 bills were part of the 42 priority legislative measures identified during the first LEDAC meeting in October 2022.
Of the 42 priority bills, four been signed into law: the SIM Card Registration Act, the postponement of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, amendments to the fixed term of officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the New Agrarian Emancipation Act
The Maharlika Investment Fund Act and the Department of Health Specialty Centers Act are still up for the President’s signature.