House Speaker Martin Romualdez (Speaker’s office)
The two latest additions to the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) list are measures that have already been approved by the Speaker Martin Romualdez-led House of Representatives. This means that, at the start of the second regular session on Monday, July 24, the House only needs to pass nine bills on third and final reading in order to finish work on all of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s priority measures. “We have walked the talk on helping the President legislate his priorities. We have delivered on our promise,” Romualdez said over the weekend. Romualdez said the nine remaining LEDAC bills in the House of Representatives are the proposed Natural Gas Industry Enabling Law; Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System Bill; National Employment Action Plan; Department of Water Services and Resources; amendments to the Electric Power Industry Act; Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act; Budget Modernization; National Defense Act; and Unified System of Separation, Retirement and Pension for Uniformed Personnel. By the time the first regular session of the 19th Congress was adjourned last May 31, the lower chamber had managed to give final approval to 33 out of the erstwhile 42 priority measures identified by LEDAC. A few weeks ago during a Marcos-led LEDAC meeting in Malacañang, the proposed Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA) and the bill Amending Bank Secrecy Law was added to the list, bringing it up to 44. But the House had already transmitted the AFASA bill and the bill Amending Bank Secrecy Law to the Senate even before the Palace-mandated inclusion, since it has already passed the bills. This means that out of the 44 LEDAC bills, the House had already accomplished nine. Romualdez, Leyte's 1st district representative, acknowledged that "the hard work is far from over", as he vowed that the House try to improve its processes. The House chieftain has also guaranteed the swift passage of the proposed P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024, alongside the nine remaining LEDAC bills.