House passes 19 LEDAC bills, Senate plays catch-up

Speaker Martin Romualdez announced Tuesday that all of the 19 priority legislations of President Marcos as discussed in the 4th Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) have been approved by the House of Representatives, three months ahead of its June target.

Romualdez delivered his report during a full LEDAC meeting led by Mr. Marcos in Malacañang.

“Mr. President, we have done our homework and all the 19 measures re-prioritized for target by June 2024 have been approved on the third and final reading by the House of Representatives,” the Speaker said.

Romualdez said the swift passage of these bills in the House shows that his chamber “caters and listens to the needs of the people passing needed legislation attuned to the Philippine Development Plan and the 8-point Socio-Economic Agenda under the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF)” of the Marcos administration.

Meanwhile, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri commited to President Marcos to pass all the legislative measures being pushed by the administration by June as well.

Zubiri said 15 of the measures will be completed before the Senate’s sine die adjournment. The remaining eight will be passed by June.

“This is good news. We, in both Houses of Congress, have alreadyapproved many of the President’s requests in this LEDAC,” said Zubiri, noting they are already on the final stages.

He said they lack either the signature of the President or are in the Bicameral Conference Committee Meetings, thus the bills “are going to be a law very, very soon.”

“But we committed to the President all 23 measures, hopefully will be done by June before the Senate break or sine die break. So that’s our commitment to the House of Representatives together with the President. But we’re on track to pass all of these by June.”

During the 6th LEDAC Technical Working Group Meeting on Jan. 16, 21 bills were identified as priority measures for passage by June this year but were eventually narrowed down to 15 considering the limited remaining session days.

The LEDAC, however, moved to add five more priority measures that will support social and economic initiatives to be passed by June 2024.

These include Open Access in Digital Transmission Act, Enterprise-based Education Programme (Apprenticeship Act), CREATE More, An Act Creating the Department of Water Management and Amendments to the Universal Health Care Act.

Among the 15 priority measures for passage by the end of June include the Amendments to Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act/Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, Self-Reliant Defense Posture Act, Philippine Maritime Zones Act, Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act, Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System (PENCAS), and the Negros Island Region Act.

Also on the list is the Anti-Financial Accounts Scamming Act, Value Added Tax on Digital Services, Amendments to the Government Procurement Reform Act, Blue Economy Act, Waste-to-Energy Bill, Mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and National Service Training Program (NSTP), Unified System of Separation, Retirement, and Pension of Military and Uniformed Personnel, E-Government Act/E-Governance Act, and Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program Act.

Of the 57 total number of Common Legislative Agenda bills for the 19th Congress, 14 have been signed into law while 43 are remaining.

Signed into law were SIM Card Registration Act, Postponement of Barangay/SK elections, Strengthening Professionalism in the AFP, New Agrarian Emancipation Act, Maharlika Investment Fund, Trabaho Para sa Bayan Act, Public-Private Partnership Code of the Philippines, Regional Specialty Centers, Automatic Income Classification of LGUs, Internet Transactions Act, Ease of Paying Taxes Act, Tatak Pinoy (Proudly Filipino) Act, Philippine Salt Industry Development Act, and New Philippine Passport Act.

LEDAC PRIORITY BILLS

1. Philippine Ecosystem and Natural
   
   Capital Accounting System
2. Negros Island Region
3. Philippine Maritime Zones Act
4. Amendments to the
   
   Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act
5. Philippine Defense Industry
   
   Development Act (PDIDA)/Self-
   
   Reliant Defense Posture Act
6. Valuation Reform Bill
7. Waste-to-Energy Bill
8. Instituting a National Citizens
   
   Service Training (NCST) Program
   
   LEDAC PRIORITY BILLS
   
   From A1
9. E-Government/E-Governance Act
10. Anti-Financial Accounts
    
    Scamming Act (AFASA)
11. Enabling Law for the Natural
    
    Gas Industry
12. VAT on Digital Services
13. Open Access in Data
    
    Transmission Act
14. Military and Uniformed Personnel
    
    Reform Bill
15. Blue Economy Act
16. Amendments to the
    
    Government Procurement
    
    Reform Act
17. Department of Water Resources
    
    and Services
18. Academic Recovery and
    
    Accessible Learning (ARAL)
    
    Program Act.
19. CREATE MORE

Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline Romualdez reports 100% approval of 19 LEDAC priority bills ahead of schedule

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