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When Sen. Loren Legarda went to Eastern Samar last Friday, she was
swamped with complaints that the Senate was devoting most of its
time to investigating alleged anomalies in government. Loren
defended the Senate, saying that the spadework being done by the
Senate for the enactment of priority bills had not been given
prominence by the media. I agree with her.
As of this writing, the Senate standing
committees have already approved five reports for plenary
debates—and this was accomplished barely a month after the
organization of the committees. Committee Report No. 1 on the
expanded retirement benefits for the judiciary was approved on
second reading on September 24, the first measure to pass by the
Senate in the Fourteenth Congress.
The second committee report urges the Department
of Justice, the Department of the Interior and Local Governments and
all law-enforcement agents to formulate rules and regulations on the
presentation of suspects in press conferences. The first and second
reports were made by the justice committee headed by Sen. Chiz
Escudero.
Committee Report No. 3 amends the Magna Carta
for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). It extends by 10
years the mandatory allocation of credit resources to MSMEs. The
measure is a consolidation of bills filed by Sen. Mar Roxas, Senate
President Manuel Villar, Sen. Bong Revilla, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and
Senator Loren. Loren, chairman of the Senate Committee on Economic
Affairs, started sponsoring the committee report last Monday.
Committee Report No. 4, also accomplished by the
justice committee, provides good conduct time allowance to convicts
and detainees. Committee Report No. 5, done by the agriculture
committee headed by Sen. Edgardo Angara, extends the utilization
time of the Agriculture Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) to
December 2015. The use of ACEF, a safety net for agriculture in the
wake of the free trade regime, is supposed to end in December 2007.
Report No. 5 consolidates bills filed separately by Sen. Dick
Gordon, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, Villar and Angara.
Angara a real workhorse
Speaking of Senator Angara, I admire him for
being a true workhorse. He is the only senator who has not been seen
in the Senate inquiry on the “Hello, Garci” and the national
broadband controversies, all because he is neck-deep in silent
committee work. Politicians love to be in the glare of media and
Angara might not be an exception but certainly, he would give
priority to fleshing out priority bills even if these would not be
fully reported by media hankering for sensational news.
The workload of Angara on October 2 indicated
his dedication to his legislative duties. At 8 a.m., as chairman of
finance subcommittee C, he heard the proposed 2008 budget of state
universities and colleges. At 10 a.m., as chairman of the Senate
Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies, he
conducted public hearings on five priority bills. These are Senate
Bill No. 62 seeking to establish a credit information system, SB 63
seeking to provide the regulatory framework for real estate
investment trusts, and SBs 70, 1194 and 1545 seeking to establish
the Personal Equity and Retirement Account.
As if the pace of work was not enough, Angara
returned at 1 p.m. as subcommittee C chairman to hear the proposed
2008 budget of the National Power Corp. Of course, in the afternoon,
he attended the session.
With reliable workhorses like Angara and, of
course, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, and the enthusiasm and dedication of
neophyte Sen. Chiz Escudero, Senate President Manuel Villar could
still accomplish his goal of having 26 priority bills approved
before the Christmas break even if the Senate would continue
investigating the Garci and the NBN controversies.
Incidentally, the Senate Committee on Electoral
Reforms headed by Sen. Dick Gordon heard last Friday the
House-approved bill resetting the October 29 barangay elections to
2009. The public hearing was just to give due course to a bill
passed by the House even if it has no chance of getting the Senate
nod. An all-senators’ caucus had already rejected the postponement
of the barangay elections.
House gets in the act
Speaker Jose de Venecia said that with the
resignation of Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos, the House could
dispose of the impeachment complaint and concentrate on the proposed
2008 budget and the Cheaper Medicine Act.
“This resignation, while personally painful to
Chairman Abalos, will not spare this Fourteenth Congress and the
Filipino people a protracted, contentious and potentially divisive
impeachment process,” JdV said in a press statement.
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