House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin G. Romualdez recommended Thursday a list of five anti-corruption bills to be included in the list of priority legislation that will be the chamber’s contribution to President Duterte’s renewed campaign against graft and corruption in government.
Romualdez, chairman of the House Committee on Rules, forwarded the list of bills to Speaker Lord Allan Velasco for his consideration.
“We initially identified five anti-corruption measures and submitted these to Speaker Lord Allan Velasco for his consideration. Prioritizing the passage of these proposed laws can help boost President Rodrigo Duterte’s renewed efforts to curb graft and corruption in the government,” Romualdez said.
The House official aired the hope that the bills be passed before the end of the year or early next year.
The list of proposed priority bills are:
– House Bill 7230 authored by Rep. Evelina Escudero (NPC, Sorsogon) proposing to grant the Office of the Ombudsman 30 percent share in the sale of property forfeited in favor of the State under Republic Act No. 139, thus, boosting the anti-graft body’s financial resources.
– HB 581 and HB 6003 authored by Reps. Eduardo Villanueva and Domingo Rivera, seeking the inclusion of anti-corruption and governance education in t he basic education and higher education curriculum, respectively.
– HB 967 authored by Rep. Francis Abaya (NUP, Cavite) proposing protection and benefits to anti-graft whistleblowers.
– HB 579 by Villanueva and Rivera seeking to create the National Independent Commission Against Corruption as an attached agency of the Office of the Ombudsman.
“These bills intend to combat red tape and graft and corruption in all fronts, starting from the education of our students, up to the support for informants and witnesses and the creation of a National Independent Commission Against Corruption,” Romualdez said.
He added: “We can see that our esteemed and hardworking colleagues have long acknowledged the need to step up our fight against corruption by filing these bills. Upon instruction of the Speaker, we will back the swift passage of these timely bills in line with our commitment to support President Duterte’s order to investigate corruption on all levels of governance,” the Leyte lawmaker added.