President Rodrigo Duterte
MANILA – The leadership of the House of Representatives has expressed readiness to pass the priority legislative measures mentioned in President Rodrigo Duterte’s final State of the Nation Address.
In a statement Monday, Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said the chamber is committed to pursue the remaining measures in the President’s legislative agenda with focus on strengthening the country’s health care system and restoring jobs lost to the pandemic.
“The House of Representatives is ready to help and cooperate with President Duterte in pushing for pieces of legislation that will help navigate the country and the economy amid the ongoing pandemic,” he said.
Velasco said the government must not only ensure that it is ready to reopen the economy, but also prepare the people for this reopening.
“We must heed the call of the President in order to bring back normalcy in the lives of our countrymen and help our economy recover and flourish again following a severe beating from the global health crisis,” he said.
He commended the President for his humility in acknowledging that there are things that his administration needs to accomplish in the next 12 months despite his “remarkable achievements” in the last five years, including free college education, universal health care, free irrigation, trust fund for coconut farmers, and ease of doing business, among others.
“Sabi nga ng mahal nating Pangulo, marami pa siyang dapat gawin at gustong tapusin. Sinisiguro namin dito sa Kongreso na handa kaming tumulong at hindi bibitiw hanggang sa huling araw ng kanyang panunungkulan upang matapos ang mga dapat pang gawin para sa sambayanang Pilipino (Our dear President said that he still has a lot to do and accomplish. We assure that Congress is ready to help and keep holding on until the last day of his presidency in order to finish the things that need to be done for the Filipino people),” he said.
Duterte asked the 18th Congress during his SONA to pass several priority bills, some of which are aimed at helping the country recover and build resilience from crises such as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The priority bills are the proposed amendments to the Public Service Act, Foreign Investments Act, and Retail Trade Liberalization Act; e-Governance bill; bills creating the Center for Disease Prevention and Control and the Virology Institute of the Philippines; Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) modernization bill; bill establishing evacuation centers; bills creating the department for overseas Filipinos and disaster resilience department; military and uniformed personnel pension reform; and measure providing free legal assistance to any officer or enlisted personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police. (PNA)
