Foreign parliament leaders to attend House centennial

Top lawmakers from 10 parliaments in Asia and Europe will attend on June 7 the centennial plenary session of the House of Representatives, to which foreign dignitaries and President Arroyo were also invited.

Speaker Jose de Venecia said the foreign leaders of parliaments have confirmed their attendance. The lawmakers are also expected to deliver a five-minute address each, in commemoration of the Philippine Assembly, where an 80-man body was elected and formed in 1907.

The House marks the centennial of Southeast Asia’s first national parliament.

De Venecia called the convening of the 1907 Assembly a “historic milestone in the Philippines’ struggle for independence and nationhood.”

“The Assembly, as the child of the Philippine Revolution, became the spokesman of Philippine nationalism, the protector of Filipino civil rights, and the vanguard of Philippine democracy,” said De Venecia, a re-elected Pangasinan congressman.

Organized under American colonial rule, the Philippine Assembly is the forerunner of the House of Representatives and became the first indigenous law-making body in colonial Asia.

De Venecia said the parliamentary leaders included Bangladesh Speaker Muhammad Jamiruddin Sirchar; Cambodian President of Parliament Samdech Heng Samrin; Finland Deputy Speaker Johannes Koskinen; Indonesian Speaker Agung Laksono; Iranian Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel; Malaysian Speaker Tan Sri Dato Seri Diraja Ramli Bin Ngah Talib; Mexican Speaker Jorge Zermeno Infante; Russian Federation Duma Vice Chairman Arthur Chilingarov; and Thai President of Parliament Meechai Ruchupan.

Chairman Wu Bangguo of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China is sending his Special Envoy Liu Minzu for the centenary special session.

President Arroyo will deliver a 10-minute address, to be followed by the speeches of Vice President Noli de Castro, Senate President Manuel Villar and Chief Justice Reynato Puno, the highest Philippine government officials, along with De Venecia.

“The Speaker will deliver a response highlighting the legislature’s century-long record in building the nation towards independence, social and political stability, peace, prosperity and economic growth,” a statement from the Speaker’s office read.

De Venecia said he would also present an agenda for the future, anticipating major developments in the age of globalization, global warming, and fighting global terrorism.

The June 7 launching of the House centennial celebration coincides with the sine die adjournment of the 13th Congress. At present, the House has 236 members from 212 legislative districts and 16 party-list groups.