Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan has assured Filipinos of the Marcos administration's strengthened socioeconomic platform that aims to get the Philippine economy back to a high-growth trajectory.
*PRIORITY BILLS — President Marcos convenes the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) in Malacañang on July 5, 2023, to determine the administration's priority bills that would promote the government's socioeconomic agenda. (Malacañang photo)*

Balisacan said this after the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) approved on July 5, 2023, the 20 legislative measures for passage by Congress by December 2023. In an interview on the sidelines of the second LEDAC full meeting, Balisacan told the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) that they had reviewed their priority measures concerning their previous list and those already achieved as of June this year. “All these measures are consistent with the 8-Point Development Agenda and the Philippine Development Plan," he said. "We made sure that these are sensitive to this agenda, and they respond to the priority measures that are identified by the Philippine Development Plan so that our socioeconomic development goals will be achieved,” he added. Marcos' 8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda seeks to "reinvigorate job creation and accelerate poverty reduction while addressing the issues brought by the Covid-19 pandemic." Balisacan explained the President's socioeconomic agenda is premised on getting the economy back to the high growth trajectory of 6.5 to 8 percent in 2024-2028, which means that the government needs to improve its investment climate and eventually allow the country to create high-quality jobs and reduce poverty to single-digit level. Balisacan said both Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez are committed to doing their best "to ensure that they deliver.” For his part, Zubiri said the approved priority bills would help boost the Philippine economy and will help revitalize industries and protect consumers through measures against false and fake e-wallets, among others. Romualdez said they can pass the priority bills agreed upon by the LEDAC as some of the bills have been passed on the third and final reading, while three others were already signed into law, and “there are three more to be signed by the President.” The following are the 20 legislative measures approved by the LEDAC to be prioritized for passage by Congress by the end of this year: 1. Amendments of the BOT Law/PPP bill 2. National Disease Prevention Management Authority 3. Internet Transactions Act/E-Commerce Law 4. Health Emergency Auxiliary Reinforcement Team (Heart) Act 5. Virology Institute of the Philippines 6. Mandatory ROTC and NSTP 7. Revitalizing the Salt Industry 8. Valuation Reform 9. E-Government/E-Governance 10. Ease of Paying Taxes 11. National Government Rightsizing Program 12. Unified System of Separation/Retirement and Pension of MUPs 13. LGU Income Classification 14. Waste-to-Energy bill 15. New Philippine Passport Act 16. Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers 17. National Employment Action Plan 18. Amendments to the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act 19. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas-endorsed Bank Deposit Secrecy 20. Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA) bills