ÇRUCIAL NEW LAWS
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. presided over the fourth Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC)in Malacanang.
Out of the 57 LEDAC bills, Marcos said 14 of the proposed measures were signed into law.
These are the 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.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri vowed to pass the remaining proposed bills.
“Magandang balita, marami dito sa request ng ating Pangulo, sa LEDAC (Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council) nga na-approve na namin both Houses of Congress at nasa final stages na. Either pirma na lang ng Pangulo, or nasa Bicameral Conference Committee Meetings na lang, which is going to be a law very, very soon,” said Zubiri.
“So, mayroon pa kaming, of course, utang dahil hindi pa namin natatapos. But we committed to the President all 23 measures, hopefully will be done by June before the Senate break or sine die break. So ‘yan ang commitment namin sa House of Representatives together with the President. But we’re on track to pass all of these by June,” Zubiri added.
Zubiri added that 15 of the proposed bill will be completed before the Senate’s Sine die adjournment while the remaining eight proposed bills will be passed into law by June 2024.
For his part, House Speaker Martin Romualdez said that all of the LEDAC priority measures were transmitted to the Senate.
“At ‘yung dahilan kung bakit nauna po kami kaya kailangan tapusin naman natin talaga yung House bago i-akyat natin sa Senate. Kaya parati nating tinutukan ‘yung ating mga LEDAC priority measures para hindi madedelay ang deliberasyon sa Senate kaya parating–hindi naman sa minamadali pero ino- overtime talaga natin sa House,” Romualdez said.
Among the 15 priority bills for passage by June are 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 include 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.
