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Senate President Manuel Villar cited recently the performance of the
Senate in the just concluded First Regular Session of the 14th
Congress, saying the chamber had been able to act on urgent bills
even as it conducted inquiries in aid of legislation.
The standing committees of the Senate reported
out 73 reports, which he considered a very productive output. He
noted that work in the first session is normally slow because it
usually takes several weeks or even months to organize the
committees.
The Senate held marathon sessions on Tuesday and
Wednesday before adjourning the first session. It ratified the
bicameral conference committee report on the Personal Equity
Retirement Account and approved on third and final reading the bills
on the Tourism Act, the Pre-Need Code, Amusement Tax Exemption and
Legal Assistance.
Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan shared
Villar’s assessment of the Senate performance.
“Almost all priority bills outlined during the
LEDAC [Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council] have
already been passed by the Senate. Thirty national bills have been
ratified by the end of this session. That’s an average of three
bills a month or almost one bill passed every week,” he said.
Among the priority bills identified by LEDAC
that are now laws are the Universally Accessible Quality and
Affordable Medicines Act, the extension of the Agricultural
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, and the Magna Carta for Micro,
Small and Medium Industries.
The other laws enacted during the First Regular
Session are the 2008 budget, the World War 2 Veterans Act, and the
new charter of the University of the Philippines.
Pangilinan also cited the bill passed by the
Senate exempting minimum wage earners from filing income tax returns
and increasing personal and additional exemptions. The bill was
adopted by the House and is now merely awaiting the signature of
President Arroyo.
Deliberations on the proposed amendments of the
Electric Power Industry Act and of the Cooperative Code will
continue in the Second Regular Session. The extension of the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, a Malacañang-certified bill,
failed to reach the floor for failure of the Department of Agrarian
Reform to provide the data requested by Senators Juan Ponce Enrile,
Joker Arroyo, Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Rodolfo Biazon.
Congress will meet again on July 28 when it
convenes for its Second Regular Session, highlighted by the
State-of-the-Nation Address by President Gloria Arroyo.
-- Efren L. Danao
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