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By Efren L. Danao, Senior Reporter
Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada and
Sen. Francis Escudero have authored the most number of bills that
have reached the Senate plenary before the First Regular Session of
the Fourteenth Congress went on Lenten recess.
Estrada authored 19 bills and Escudero, 13, that
have been consolidated into various committee reports. A committee
report fuses the best features of related bills after public hearings.
It is filed in substitution of these bills and it is the one
sponsored in plenary session, not the individual bills. Of the
thousands of bills filed, only those included in committee reports
stand a chance of becoming a law.
Senate President Manuel Villar and Sen. Loren
Legarda are jointly third with 12 bills each, while Sen. Edgardo
Angara and Sen. Richard Gordon are jointly fourth with 11 bills
each.
The 19 bills of Estrada are consolidated with
other bills in the committee reports on the amendment of the
Electric Power Industry Reform Act; the expanded coverage of the
Student Employment Program; the amendment of the law on
prostitution; Renewable Energy; publication of income and
expenditures of local government units (LGUs); allowing LGUs to
choose their depository banks; Anti-Torture Act; the Socialized and
Low-Cost Housing Loan Restructuring Program; Decriminalization of
Vagrancy; the expansion of the Scholarship Grant to Family Members
of police, fire, jail and military personnel; Fixing the Term of the
AFP Chief of Staff; the creation of the Civil Aeronautics
Administration; the University of the Philippines Charter; the
Environmental Education Act; Breastfeeding; Kasambahay or protection
of household helpers; the Magna Carta of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises Act; and the Presentation of Suspects in Press
Conference.
Estrada filed the first 10 bills and Senate Bill
Numbers 301 to 709 plus many others in becoming probably the most
prolific bill author in the First Regular Session. Three of his
bills were incorporated in the committee report on Renewable
Energy.
Escudero’s 13 bills were among those
consolidated in the committee reports on the amendment of the law on
prostitution; the review of revenue regulations on per-centage tax
of domestic carriers; the expanded structure of the Court of Tax
Appeal; Anti-Torture Act; Earmarking of a Percentage of Value of
Forfeited Properties Derived from Anti-Corruption Cases for the
Office of the Ombudsman; Decriminalization of Vagrancy; UP
Charter; Breastfeeding; Cell Phone Theft; Good Conduct Time
Allowance for Prisoners; Presentation of Suspects in Press
Conference; and the Judiciary Retirement Act.
Productive as bill author and Senate
President
A Senate President’s main responsibility is to
manage Senate affairs, so he is not expected to be productive in
legislation because he has his hands full in managing Senate
affairs. Villar, however, has shown that he can do both at the same
time with 11 bills in various committee reports to his credit.
The bills of Villar are incorporated in the
committee reports on the amendment of the Law on Prostitution;
Repealing the Crime of Premature Marriage; UP Charter; the
Scholarship Grant to Family Members of Uniformed Personnel; the
Environmental Education Act; Cell Phone Theft; Quality Affordable
Medicine; extension of the Agriculture Competitiveness Enhancement
Fund; the Magna Carta of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; the
Presentation of Suspects in Press Conference; and the Judiciary
Retirement Act.
Legarda authored 12 bills that have been
included in the committee reports on the expanded student
employment program; the Barangay Livelihood and Skills Training
Centers; Pre-Need Code, amendment of the law on prostitution;
Renewable Energy; the La Mesa Watershed Reservation Act;
Decriminalizing Vagrancy; UP Charter; Environmental Aware-ness
Education; Kasambahay; Quality Affordable Medicine Act; and the
Magna Carta for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
Some 2,121 bills have been filed in the Senate,
of which 152 have been consolidated in 42 committee reports.
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