The House plenary. (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

The House of Representatives will be looking to pass on third and final reading not eight, but 14 more priority measures of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. once it resumes sessions on Monday, May 8.

This, after House Speaker Martin Romualdez bared Sunday afternoon, May 7, that the President approved 11 additional bills, including the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), as part of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) list of measures.

But the Romualdez-led chamber has already approved on third reading five of these additional bills in the past few months.

“President Marcos approved eleven bills designed to address key issues on public health, job creation, and further stimulate economic growth as part of his administration's priority legislation.These measures will be the focus of our legislative efforts when Congress resumes session this Monday,” Romualdez said in a statement.

The five bills are 1. Amending the Armed Forces of the Philippines) AFP Fixed Term Bill, which has been transmitted to the President; 2. Ease of Paying Taxes, 3. The MIF, 4. Local Government Unit (LGU) Income Classification, and 5. Amendment to Universal Health Care Act, which have already been sent to the Senate.

The rest of the 11 new LEDAC bills are the 6. Bureau of Immigration (BI) Modernization and 7. Infrastructure Development Plan/Build Build Build Program, which are now for committee report preparation; 8. Philippine Salt Industry Development Act, 9. Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System (PENCAS), 10. National Employment Action Plan, and 11. Amendment to the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act, which are all under committee/technical working group (TWG) meeting.

The latter six measures will join the remaining eight bills yet to be crossed out by the House from the original list of 31 LEDAC bills.

These eight are the 1. Regional Specialty Hospitals (for second reading approval), 2. Enabling Law for the Natural Gas Industry (under TWG deliberation), 3. National Land Use Act (TWG), 4. Department of Water Resources and Services and Creation of Water Regulatory Commission (TWG), 5. Electric Power Industry Reform Act (for committee deliberation), 6. Budget Modernization (for committee deliberation), 7. National Defense Act (for committee deliberation), 8. and Unified System of Separation, Retirement and Pension for Uniformed Personnel (also for committee deliberation).

Remember the Maharlika Investment Fund?

Described as a "vehicle for investments", the controversial MIF will serve as the Philippine sovereign wealth fund.

It seeks to create a new revenue stream for the country by tapping investible funds for investments either here and abroad. The profits from these investments will be used to bankroll big ticket projects.

The proposed law lists the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corp. (Pagcor), and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as contributors to the MIF seed money.

The MIF became contentious when it initially identified pension agencies such as Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Social Security System (SSS) as fund sources.

The House only took 18 calendar days--from Nov. 28 to Dec. 15, 2022--to deliberate and pass the measure on third reading.

Its main authors are Speaker Romualdez, Majority Leader and Zamboanga City 2nd district Rep. Mannix Dalipe, Senior Deputy Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte 1st district Rep. Sandro Marcos, Committee on Accounts Chairperson and Tingog Party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez, Deputy Majority Leader and Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre, and Committee on Appropriations Senior Vice Chairperson and Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo.

42 priority measures

Marcos' identification of 11 new LEDAC bills also pushed the total priority measures of the administration from 31 to 42. Out of the 42, a total of 28 have already been given final nod of the House.

The Marcos administration is hardly a year old.

Romualdez said the House leadership aims to approve the remaining eight LEDAC bills from the original 31 bills before the sine die adjournment of Congress on June 2. The adjournment will mark the end of the first regular session of the 18th Congress.

“It will be on a best-effort basis. We will try to pass the remaining eight bills from the original priority list. If we could do that, we would have approved all the urgent measures identified by President Marcos in less than a year,” said the Leyte 1st district congressman and Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) president.