By Charissa Luci-Atienza
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Senator Bong Go on Wednesday urged the expeditious passage of a bill creating the Department of Overseas Filipinos and Foreign Employment.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Senator Bong Go (MANILA BULLETIN)
They made the call during the launch of the Malasakit Center at the Taguig-Pateros District Hospital (TPDH).
Cayetano said the Lower Chamber will prioritize the passage of the measure "in the next three months."
Congress will buckle down to work on January 20.
I'd like Senator Bong Go to know that Majority Leader Martin Romualdez and I have talked, and in the next three months, the Department of OFW will be given utmost priority...so that in times of crisis like the one happening now, we have only one Secretary who would focus on that, Cayetano said in Pilipino.
Romualdez earlier vowed that the bill, along with measure creating the Department of Disaster Resilience, will be put to vote on second reading, as soon as Congress resumes work this month.
Go said Congress should not wait for a war before acting on the bill.
"Let us not wait for a war to erupt before we pass this bill," he said in his speech during the launch of the Malasakit Center in TPDH.
He appealed to his colleagues in the Senate and the House leadership to pass the bill.
I am appealing to my colleagues in the Senate, in Congress including the leadership of Congress to pass the bill creating the Department of OFWs. Let us not wait for any crisis or for our OFWs to die, like Jeanelyn (Villavende), Go said in Pilipino.
Meanwhile, Cayetano and Go said they have yet to receive a formal request from the President for them to convene in a special session to map out contingency plans following the escalating tension in Middle East.
They confirmed that President Duterte broached the idea of calling Congress for a special joint session during the signing of the P4.1 trillion national budget for 2020.