Rep. Marcos: House to focus on 26 remaining priority bills of Marcos admin

MANILA — Half of the 52 priority bills identified by the current administration have been approved and passed by the House of Representatives during the First Regular Session of the 20th Congress.

The priority measures, which were agreed upon through the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), aim to introduce structural reforms that would support the programs and agenda of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

“We will work on approving the rest in the course of our Second Regular Session,” House Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander Marcos of Ilocos Norte’s First District said in a news release on Sunday.

Marcos said the House aims to streamline the implementation of laws to ensure that the public can easily access government programs and benefits.

Of the 52 priority bills, 21 have already been approved. One measure, the Cybersecurity Act, is currently included in the calendar of business, while another bill seeking to disqualify relatives of government officials up to the fourth degree from government contracts is awaiting the filing of a committee report.

Nine bills have been forwarded for comments or transmittal to the Committee on Appropriations. These include measures seeking to modernize the Bureau of Immigration, amend the Magna Carta for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, accelerate classroom construction, reprogram the Seal of Good Local Governance, modernize the Civil Registration System, establish the Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability Act, strengthen disaster risk financing insurance, create a Magna Carta for Barangay officials, and develop a Masterplan for Infrastructure and National Development.

The remaining 15 bills are undergoing technical working group discussions or committee deliberations. These include amendments to the Universal Health Care Act, an excise tax on single-use plastics, changes to the Rice Tariffication Law and Fisheries Code, the creation of an Independent People's Commission, reforms to the Local Government Code and party-list system, regulations on online gambling, amendments to the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act, a general tax amnesty, the Progressive Budgeting for Better and Modernized Governance Act, rules on the fair use of social media, artificial intelligence and internet technology in elections, changes to the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Law, the requirement for civil servants to waive bank secrecy, and amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

The House leadership said it remains committed to advancing the remaining priority measures during the next regular session. (PNA) -Philippine News Agency