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By Efren L. Danao Senior Reporter
Senate President Manuel Villar
gave an assurance Thursday that the Senate is on track working
“full blast” on all priority bills left pending when the
Thirteenth Congress adjourned in June.
He cited this on account of talk
that the Senate is being sidetracked by the “Hello, Garci” tape
probes and proposed inquiry on the ZTE deal.
“The resuscitation of the
‘Hello, Garci’ probe and the planned probe into the ZTE
broadband deal would not delay or derail our timetable in passing
these priority measures,” Villar said.
He cited the agreement of all
senators in a recent caucus to focus on the passage of 26 bills,
including the national budget, although they would also be
investigating controversial deals.
“Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, the
chairman of the Committee on Finance, will start hearings on the
2008 national budget next, simultaneously with the House,” Villar
said.
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, chairman of
the Committee on Defense, will hear on Friday the certified bill
prescribing a fixed term of office of three years for the Armed
Forces chief of staff.
The Senate passed this bill on
final reading in the Thirteenth Congress, but the House failed to
approve it for lack of quorum.
“We will act fast on this bill.
We might even approve it after just one hearing,” Biazon said.
Senate Majority Leader Francis
Pangilinan said the senators had all agreed that only one committee
hearing is needed on those bills that were pending at the conference
committee level when the Thirteenth Congress adjourned.
Other bills up for discussion are
the bills ensuring compensation for human-rights victims and cheaper
medicines, and the proposed Lemon Law.
Other priority bills include the
new UP charter, the Magna Carta for Small and Medium Enterprises,
the National Tourism Policy, exemption of minimum-wage earners from
paying income tax, lowering of personal income tax rates, Personal
Equity Retirement Act, the Credit Information Act and the Corporate
Recovery Act.
Pangilinan said the committees
concerned would immediately conduct hearings on these bills and
prepare committee reports for plenary debates.
“Many of these bills have been
pending in Congress for 6 to 12 years. They require our action
without further delay,” he stressed.
Not all bills pending with
previous Congresses have to be refiled before the Fourteenth
Congress could take cognizance of them, said Pangilinan. In the case
of the priority bills, the committees could expedite their approval
by admitting records of proceedings in the Thirteenth Congress.
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