The House of Representatives has placed itself in a position to approve on third and final reading up to 15 bills that were previously identified as priority measures by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).
Of this number, 13 priority bills of the Marcos administration are expected to gain final plenary approval during the last three session days of the year, from Monday, Dec. 12; to Wednesday, Dec. 14.
Most of these measures were consecutively passed on second reading the previous week, during the Dec. 5 to 7 session dates, as if the House members were bent on hitting a target.
It was recalled that last Nov. 6, the leader of the chamber--House Speaker Martin Romualdez--promised to pass on third reading "16 to 18" LEDAC measures before the holiday recess.
The lower chamber had earlier passed on third reading House Bill (HB) No.4339 or the proposed Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act (PIFITA), and HB No. 6452 or the proposed Act creating the Virology and Vaccine Institute of the Philippines.
Should the House manage to give its final nod to 13 other bills before Wednesday, then it will have "accomplished" 15 items from the LEDAC list before year's end--certainly not a bad result.
The 13 bills that await third and final reading passage this week are the following:
HB No.1 or the Government Financial Institutions (GFIs) Unified Initiatives To Distressed Enterprises For Economic Recovery Act (GUIDE)
HB No.4 or the proposed Internet Transactions Act
HB No.6336 or the proposed New Agrarian Emancipation Act
HB No.6444 or the proposed Waste Treatment Technology Act
HB No.6509 or the proposed Free Legal Assistance to Military and Uniformed Personnel Act
HB No.6510 or the proposed New Philippine Passport Act
HB No.6511 or the Act creating the Eastern Visayas Development Authority
HB No.6518 or the proposed Health Emergency Auxiliary Reinforcement Team (HEART) Act (former the medical reserve corps bill)
HB No.6522 or the proposed Philippine Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) Act
HB No.6523 or the proposed Revised National Apprenticeship Program Act
HB No.6527 or the proposed Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Act
HB No.6557 or the Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers (BHW)
HB No.6558 or the proposed Real Property Tax and Assessment Reform
Another key piece of legislation--the P5.268-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) or national budget--was also ratified by the House last week. It is expected to be signed into law by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. before Christmas.
The House can't approve a bill on second reading and third reading on the same day due to the three-day wait rule. This wait rule is waived once a particular bill is certified as urgent by Malacañang.
Plenary consideration for second reading is done via simple voice vote (ayes vs. nayes). On the other hand, consideration for third reading is carried out through nominal voting, where congressmen are asked to enter a vote (yes-no-abstain) one by one.
The solons' holiday break will last five weeks.