SPEAKER Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez on Sunday bared that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. approved 11 additional bills, including the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) as part of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), bringing to 42 from original 31 the total number of priority administration measures.

“President Marcos approved eleven bills designed to address key issues on public health, job creation, and further stimulate economic growth as part of his administration’s priority legislation (LEDAC). These measures will be the focus of our legislative efforts when Congress resumes session this Monday,” Speaker Romualdez said who accompanied President Marcos during his “meaningful” and “constructive” five-day official visit to the United States (US) and coronation of newly crowned monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, King Charles III and Queen Camila.

According to Speaker Romualdez, the 11 bills include 1. Amending the AFP Fixed Term Bill, which was transmitted to the President; 2. Ease of Paying Taxes, 3. Maharlika Investment Fund, 4. Local Government Unit Income Classification, and 5. Amendment to Universal Health Care Act, which were already sent to the Senate; 6. Bureau of Immigration Modernization and 7. Infrastructure Development Plan/Build Build Build Program, which is now for committee report preparation; 8. Philippine Salt Industry Development Act; 9. Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System (PENCAS), 10. National Employment Action Plan, and 11. Amendment to the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act, which is under committee/technical working group (TWG) meeting.

Speaker Romualdez also said the leadership aims to approve the remaining eight LEDAC bills from the original 31 bills before the sine die adjournment of Congress on June 2.

“It will be on a best-effort basis. We will try to pass the remaining eight bills from the original priority list. If we could do that, we would have approved all the urgent measures identified by President Marcos in less than a year,” Speaker Romualdez said.

These proposed pieces of legislation support the President’s Agenda for Prosperity and his eight-point socio-economic roadmap, Speaker Romualdez said.

“They are intended to sustain our economic growth, hasten the country’s digital transformation and speed up the delivery of public services to our people, among other objectives,” he said.

A total of 31 proposed laws had been originally listed by the President in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July last year and later adopted by the LEDAC.

Two of the 31 are now laws the government is implementing: SIM (subscriber identify module) Registration Act and the postponement of the barangay/Sangguniang Kabataan elections, which are now scheduled for October this year.

Another bill, the proposed Agrarian Reform Debts Condonation of unpaid loans, interest, and penalties of thousands of agrarian reform beneficiaries, may soon become law.

Congress had ratified the conference committee report containing the condonation bill before its Holy Week adjournment.

The House had approved 20 LEDAC-SONA bills on third and final reading from the 31 original LEDAC bills.

These are Magna Carta of Seafarers, E-Governance Act / E Government Act, Negros Island Region, Virology Institute of the Philippines, Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act, National Disease Prevention Management Authority or Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Medical Reserve Corps, Philippine Passport Act; Internet Transaction Act / E-Commerce Law, Waste-to-Energy Bill, Free Legal Assistance for Police and Soldiers, Apprenticeship Act, Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law, Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers, Valuation Reform, Eastern Visayas Development Authority, Leyte Ecological Industrial Zone, Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery, National Citizens Service Training Program, and Rightsizing the National Government.

The original eight remaining SONA-LEDAC priority measures the House is aiming to approve in the homestretch of the First Regular Session of the 19th Congress are the bill establishing regional specialty hospitals, enabling law for the natural gas industry, National Land Use Act, Department of Water Resources and Services and creation of Water Regulatory Commission, Budget Modernization Act, National Defense Act, amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, and the bill on a unified system of separation, retirement, and pension for uniformed personnel.

Additionally, the House has identified 13 priority measures, including On-Site, In-City Near City Local Government Resettlement Program, Open Access in Data Transmission, Mandatory Establishment of Evacuation Centers in Every City, Province, and Municipality Permanent Evacuation Centers; Online Registration of Voters, Constitutional Convention (RBH No. 6) Calling for Constitutional Convention, Implementing RBH No. 6, and Amendments to the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) Charter, which were also sent to the Senate following third and final reading approval; Estate Tax Amnesty Act Extension, which is for calendaring by the House Committee on Rules; Government Procurement Reform Act, which is under technical working group (TWG); Department of Disaster Resilience and Livestock Development and Competitiveness Bill, which is under committee deliberations; and Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and Wage Employment Assistance Program for Displaced and/or Vulnerable Workers, which is for committee deliberations.