Dalipe shrugs off 'premature partisanship', says House can't be slowed down
House Majority Leader and Zamboanga City 2nd district Rep. Mannix Dalipe (Contributed photo)
"Premature partisanship" won't be enough to derail the work of the House of Representatives. Majority Leader and Zamboanga City 2nd district Rep. Mannix Dalipe made this declaration Thursday, June 8 even as he placed a focus on President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s upcoming State of the Nation Address (SONA), which will be held in the House's turf next month. “The House of Representatives will not be slowed down by premature partisanship. All these political rumblings are unnecessary distractions that will only break our momentum in ensuring the swift passage of President Marcos’ priority measures and those that were approved by LEDAC," Dalipe said in a statement. LEDAC stands for Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council. Out of the 42 LEDAC-listed measures, 33 were approved by the House on third and final reading during the first regular session of the 19th Congress. Marcos' second SONA on July 24, 2023 will mark the start of the second regular session. “Right now, the House is in the thick of preparations for President Marcos’ second [SONA] as we also prepare to receive from Malacañang next year’s proposed National Expenditure Program (NEP). Our hands are full in the House of Representatives so we cannot afford to squander our time on useless partisan bickering,” Dalipe said. House Speaker Martin Romualdez earlier reported that the lower chamber was able to process a total of 9,600 measures during the first regular session. A total of 577 measures were approved, or an average of 30 measures per session day. This was 10 percent more than the House's output in the previous 18th Congress during the same period, noted Romualdez. "We have a commitment to the Filipino people that we will do even better on this second regular session,” Dalipe said.