With three exhaustive marathon hearings under its belt, the 13-panel Legislative Energy Action and Development (LEAD) Council is now ready to move on to the next phase of its function--that is, to craft a consolidated legislative response to the fuel price crisis.

But don't call it "Bayanihan 3"; instead it will be known as the House of Representatives' proposed "Kalinga Law".

Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Miro Quimbo--chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, one of the panels that comprise the LEAD Council--initially tagged the envisioned measure as Bayanihan 3, which was to be patterned after the first two "ayuda" or aid-centric Bayanihan laws that were passed at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Quimbo told reporters on Friday, April 17 that while the Kalinga bill's framework resembled that of Bayanihan's, it was going to be equipped with broader provisions in order to help more Filipinos.

“Sinabi ko (I said) this is almost going to be like Bayanihan 3. We’re not just going to touch upon ayuda, we’re going to touch upon health, we’re going to touch upon the banking sector, the transportation sector. But that’s not Bayanihan 3 anymore, it’s now the Kalinga Bill,” noted Quimbo, who acted as presiding officer of the three energy crisis council hearings.

“Ang next task na po is magbe-break up ang 13 committees para gawin nila ang kanya-kanyang subject matter expertise para kunin at i-collate ang lahat ng mga recommendations ng departments,” he said.

(The next task is for the 13 committees to break up and carry out their respective subject matter expertise, in order to gather and collate all the recommendations from the departments.)

The all encompassing council was formed under the directive of House Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III and Majority Leader Sandro Marcos in a bid to give the chamber a wider response to the oil price shock. It assembled committees handling transport, labor, energy, social services, overseas workers, information and communications technology and other sectors touched by the crisis.

Dy and Marcos have earlier filed House Bill (HB) No. 8834, or the KALINGA Act--a measure designed to guarantee fast, targeted, and automatic government response when fuel price shocks begin driving up the cost of living.

At the core of the proposal is the KALINGA Program, a whole-of-government response system that is automatically activated once critical warning signs appear, such as sharp increases in fuel prices, extraordinary inflation, low fuel supply levels, or the declaration of a national energy emergency.

“Isang galaw lang sa presyo ng langis, lahat tumataas—pamasahe, pagkain, kuryente. Hahanapan ng Kongreso at pamahalaan ng solusyon ang sitwasyon. Sa KALINGA Act, may malinaw na sistema—may trigger, may aksyon, may tulong,” Marcos earlier said.

(One move in oil prices and everything rises—fares, food, electricity. Congress and government will seek solutions to the situation. Under the KALINGA Act, there is a clear system—there’s a trigger, there’s action, there’s aid.)

The legislative product of the LEAD Council's work is expected to be lumped together with the House leadership's Kalinga Bill

Quimbo stressed that the council's process will not stop at sector-by-sector collection of data, because the entire point now was to bring the scattered pieces together into a single legislative framework.

“And then we will consolidate all of these things,” said the veteran lawmaker from Marikina.

"We can firm up and submit to the joint committee on the first week of May, yung (the) consolidated Kalinga Bill filed by Speaker Bojie Dy, a week and a half,” he shared.

Quimbo said the council will collate its suggested measures from members by the final week of April. Congress (House of Representatives and Senate) is still on summer break, if should be noted.

Quimbo clarified, however, that the formal presentation to the mother council would still depend on the plenary action constituting the committee in the proper legislative sense.

“I say formally kasi right now the committee has not been formed by plenary action. So as soon as that is done, the consolidated bill will now be presented formally to the joint committee,” he pointed out.

Quimbo also says the House intends to use the Kalinga Bill to address complaints that the middle class has been squeezed dry by the crisis and other economic challenges, yet they are too often left outside the first layer of government help.

“Of course we’ll push for all these tax reforms where we feel like the middle class has been left out. And they also deserve some help. So one of that is to realign, reprogram and amend funds, enter supply agreements or emergency supply agreements, and suspend or reduce fuel taxes,” he pointed out.

For Quimbo, that also means the House cannot pretend that a crisis of this scale can be managed with ordinary tools alone, especially when agencies need room to move faster than they would in normal times.

“We need emergency powers to be able to address urgent needs,” he noted.

He said the House also wants closer coordination with the executive branch, particularly the Department of Finance (DOF), because the final quality of the Kalinga Bill will depend not just on intention but on whether the government is working off the fullest and most accurate data available.

“We want the Executive, we want to help the President find the best solution. And you can only find the best solution if you have the best data,” Quimbo further said.