The House Committee on Labor and Employment is now the “most productive” body in the 18th Congress, having held almost 60 hearings so far since the term started in 2019.

According to its chairperson, Rep. Eric Pineda of 1-PACMAN Partylist, the committee currently has 16 bills awaiting action from the Senate. They hope to have them passed before President Rodrigo Duterte’s term ends, as these are “much-needed” bills such as the Security of Tenure Bill, Freelance Workers Bill, the Eddie Garcia Bill, and the Media Workers Welfare Bill.

"Labing anim po yan na very important bills because ito po yung mga batas na tutulong po sa ating mga manggagawa. Eh alam naman ninyo na ang kailangan nating proteksyunan ay ang ating mga manggagawa,” Pineda said.

As chair of the committee, Pineda said these bills were a product of a “promise” he had not just to his members, but also to himself, having experienced a bill he made on Agriculture that he was so “passionate” about go unheard by the committee during his first term.

“[Ang masasabi ko lang talaga po, di naman po talaga ako pulitiko. Gusto ko lang naman talaga tumulong... ‘Yung nangyari po sakin nung first term ko, meron akong passionate na bill sa Agriculture na tatlong taon hindi ho napansin kahit anong pakiusap ko dun sa Chairman, hindi niya ho nai-calendar para i-take up po ng Committee,” he shared.

“Kaya naipangako ko sa sarili ko, kapag ako ho naging Chairman, lahat ng bill na papasok sa aking Committee, gagawan ko ng paraan para maisalang,” he added.

Pineda recently led Congress’ recent push for a National Minimum Wage increase for the benefit of over 44 million private-sector workers all over the country, as workers' salaries find it hard to keep up with inflation due to the recent oil crisis and the added living costs brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.