Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda has revealed that 10 out of the 18 bills mentioned by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Batasang Pambansa Complex on Monday, July 25, have already been approved on third and final reading by the House of Representatives during previous congresses.
“That said, 10 of the 18 bills were already approved on 3rd reading. The other three measures that were mentioned but not listed in the 18 were also approved on 3rd reading,” he said in a Viber message to reporters on Monday night.
“We can invoke the House rules which allow us to expedite committee proceedings for more than half of PBBM's priority measures,” Salceda added.
The congressman-economist bared that he plans to ask House Speaker Martin Romualdez to “immediately constitute” the Committee on Ways and Means, which he heads, to take up most of the Chief Executive’s priority legislation.
Here are the 10 out of the 18 bills mentioned by Marcos that were already approved on third reading by the lower House:
1. National Government Rightsizing Program (HB 419)
2. Tax Package 3: Valuation Reform Bill (HB 54)
3. Package 4 of Tax Reform
4. E-Government Act
5. Internet Transactions Act (HB 687)
6. Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery (GUIDE) Act (HB 685)
7. Medical Reserve Corps
8. National Disease Prevention and Management (HB 46)
9. Virology Institute of the Philippines (HB 47)
10. Mandatory ROTC and national service training program (HB 639)
Salceda said three other priority measures were mentioned during the SONA, but not listed. These were also approved on third reading:
1. VAT on digital service providers (HB 372)
2. Ease of Paying Taxes (HB 53)
3. Agrarian Reform Debts Condonation (HB 665)
Most of the eight other bills mentioned by Marcos as priority agenda of his administration have already been filed in congress. These are:
1. Budget Modernization Bill (HB 418)
2. Department of Water Resources (HB 55)
3. MUP Pension System (HB 667)
4. National Land Use Act (HB 420)
5. National Defense Act
6. Enabling Law for Natural Gas
7. Amendments to the EPIRA
8. Amendments to the BOT-PPP Law (HB 49)
Although the 10 bills in Marcos’s agenda already passed third reading before the 18th Congress ended, Salceda said “these went to naught” because they were not acted upon by the Senate.
The lawmaker explained that there should be a counterpart bill in the Senate, although it is largely believed that these priority legislations could be expedited in the 19th Congress given the approval they received during the previous congress.
Under House rules, after the approval on third reading by the lower House, the approved bill will be transmitted to the Senate.
The bill must undergo the same legislative process in the Senate before a bicameral conference committee can be held. After both Houses approve the bicameral conference committee report, the bill will be transmitted to the President where it can either be approved or vetoed.