Senate raring to okay priority measures
THE Senate is ready to hit the ground running on priority bills and other key pieces of legislation as it opens the Second Regular Session of the 19th Congress today.
“We made a commitment that, on the part of the Senate, we will pass 20 priority bills by December, 2023,” Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri said.
“We need to hit the ground running,” he added.
The Senate chief said the 24-member chamber, in resuming plenary sessions under the 19th Congress, aims to pass the proposed Public-Private Partnership Act, which will amend Republic Act No. 6957 or the “Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)” Law; the creation of a National Disease Prevention Management Authority; the proposed Internet Transactions Act; the establishment of the Medical Reserve Corps and the Virology Institute of the Philippines; the reinstatement of the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Program; and the bill revitalizing the Philippines’ salt industry.
Senators are also set to work on the approval of measures aimed at improving and streamlining government transactions and services, specifically: the proposed Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act; the proposed E-Governance and E-Government Act; Ease of Paying Taxes Act; the National Government Rightsizing Act; Automatic Income Classification of Local Government Units; and the bills providing for a Unified System for Separation, Retirement and Pension of Military and Uniformed Services; and a New Philippine Passport Law.
