Returning Senator Loren Legarda on Monday, July 4 filed her first 10 bills in the 19th Congress today.
Having served as a senator for 18 years, Legarda was the first to file among the 24 incumbent and newly-elected senators in accordance with the principle of seniority in the Senate.
“We just filed the first batch of our priority bills today, which are mostly zeroed in on the edification of the country’s education and livelihood system. We prioritized these measures as we believe they are very timely and that we must act on them immediately to address the pressing needs of our society,” she said.
The bills that she filed are:
- Senate Bill No. 1: One Tablet, One Student Act. It seeks to provide each public elementary, secondary, and State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) student with a tablet computer to enable them to participate in online learning effectively;
- Senate Bill No. 2: Magna Carta of Public School Teachers. It seeks to institutionalize a revised Magna Carta for Public School Teachers that can promote, protect and uphold their rights and capably respond to their current needs;
- Senate Bill No. 3 or the Magna Carta for Private School Teacher. This seeks to promote and improve the social and economic status of private school teachers, their living and working conditions, terms of employment, and career prospects;
- Senate Bill No. 4: An Act Upgrading the Minimum Salaries of Public School Teachers and Personnel. This measure seeks to upgrade the minimum salaries of public school teachers to Salary Grade 15, teaching personnel in higher education to Salary Grade 16, and non-teaching personnel to P16,000;
- Senate Bill No. 5: Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers (BHWs). It seeks to strengthen the barangay unit by revising and repealing the existing law in order to recognize and acknowledge the valuable sacrifices and tireless efforts of BHWs;
- Senate Bill No. 6: Technical Education, Training and Certification Act of 2022. It seeks to create a Department of Technical Education Training and Certification, which shall replace and absorb the current Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA);
- Senate Bill No. 7 which seeks to amend Republic Act no. 8759, otherwise known as the Public Employment Service Office Act of 1999, to include entrepreneurship in the scope of the law, to rename the present Public Employment Service Office (PESO) into the Public Employment and Entrepreneurship Service Office (PEESO), and to establish the Barangay Employment and Entrepreneurship Service Office (BEESO) nationwide;
- Senate Bill No. 8: Pangkabuhayan Bill. It seeks to institutionalize the livelihood programs of different government agencies for MSMEs under one umbrella program in view of pandemic recovery;
- Senate Bill No. 9: Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System (PENCAS) Law of 2022 which seeks to institutionalize a Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System (PENCAS) to reflect environmental inputs and outputs in determining national income accounts; and
Senate Bill No. 10: Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) Remittance Protection Act of 2022. This seeks to provide adequate safeguards to further protect the rights and interests of OFWs with respect to their foreign exchange remittances.
“Once the session resumes, we will work on these measures until they are adopted in the Senate. We hope that through these proposed bills, we would be able to bring development to the lives of our countrymen and help alleviate poverty in our country,” Legarda said.
The 19th Congress starts July 25.