The leadership of the House of Representatives has listed the proposed Philippine Virology Institute Act and four other legislative measures with President Rodrigo Duterte’s legislative agenda as among the top priorities of the chamber in its last year of regular session.

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said the proposed Center for Disease Control Act, Amendments to the Continuing Professional Development Act of 2016, Bureau of Immigration Modernization Act, and National Housing Development Act made it in the list of legislative priorities.

“We will work toward the approval of these bills once we resume session and we will also take into account the priority measures President Duterte will mention in his sixth and final SONA,” Velasco said.

He added: “We will do our best to help the President fulfill all his promises to the Filipino people.”

Underscoring the need for stronger action against the COVID-19 pandemic, House leaders sought the establishment of the Philippine Virology Institute as the premier research and development institution in the field of virology, encompassing all areas in viruses and viral diseases in humans, plants and animals.

Several bills on the proposal have been consolidated into HB 9559.

Authors included Deputy Speaker and Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez; Reps. Ron Salo (Kabayan Partylist) and Cheryl P. Deloso Montalla (2nd District, Zambales) and Angelina Tan (4th District, Quezon). Tan, chairperson of the House Committee on Health will sponsor and defend the bill on the floor.

Lawmakers also vowed to take swift plenary action on the proposal to create the Philippine Center for Disease Control that will serve as the country’s principal health protection agency tasked to prevent, protect and manage the spread of diseases and other health threats originating domestically and internationally.

The consolidated bill HB 9560 is authored by Reps. Jose Enrique Garcia, (2nd District, Bataan); Alfred Vargas (5th District, Quezon City); Raymund LR Villafuerte Jr. (2nd District, Camarines Sur); Diego “Nonoy” C. Ty (1st District, Misamis Occidental) and Estrellita B. Suansing (1st District, Nueva Ecija) and Horacio Suansing Jr. (2nd District, Sultan Kudarat) among other authors.

Meanwhile, the proposed Bureau of Immigration Modernization Act seeks to modernize, professionalize and improve the compensation of officials and personnel of the Bureau of Immigration, while the proposed National Housing Development Act aims to significantly reduce the country’s housing backlog through continuous funding support for socialized housing.

Legislative process will also be fastracked for the passage of the proposed amendment to the Continuing Professional Development Act of 2016, which requires Filipino professionals to take additional formal and non-formal learning before they can renew their licenses and identification cards.

The said bill was included in Duterte’s legislative wish list during the 2020 SONA.

“We in the House have actually passed a lot of the priority bills of the President, some of which are under deliberation in the Senate,” Velasco said.

The Speaker said he’s looking forward to the approval by the Senate of the proposed Internet Transactions Act and the creation of the Department of Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos, both of which were already passed by the House.

The proposed Internet Transactions Act would ensure an effective regulation of commercial activities through the internet in the promotion of consumer and intellectual property rights, data privacy, fair advertising and competition.

“We need the Internet Transactions Act mainly because of all the online transactions that are happening right now, and it would actually lead to the protection of consumers and the buying public online,” Velasco pointed out.