JDV says House passed 15 priority bills in just 5 months

The House of Representatives under Speaker Jose de Venecia has passed 15 priority bills in the last five months, including the P1.227-trillion 2008 national budget and the Cheaper Medicines Act of 2007.

“We could not be happier with this legislative output,” House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor said.

Defensor pointed out all of the measures were approved by the chamber on third and final reading. A total of 3,790 House bills have been filed since July 23.

House Bill 2844, or the Cheaper Medicines Bill authored by Iloilo Rep. Ferjenel Biron, was brought to a vote following weeks of bruising debates and was unanimously approved before Congress went on recess last Dec. 21.

Of the 15 bills, four are in bicameral conference to reconcile the House and Senate versions, while one bicameral report – Extending the Utilization Period of the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund – was already ratified.

The other measures approved on third reading included the Resetting the Synchronized Barangay & Sangguniang Kabataan Elections; Creating the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines; Amending Republic Act 9280, known as Customs Brokers Act of 2004; Direct Remittance to the Host Local Government Unit of its Forty Percent Share of Gross Collection from National Wealth Taxes; Stiffer Penalties for the Illegal, Unlawful Importation, Manufacture, Acquisition, Sale, Disposition or Possession of Explosives; and Increasing the Penalties for Election Offenses Attended by Violence, Coercion, Intimidation, Force or Threats.

Also approved on third and final reading was the One Billion Trees Act authored by De Venecia aimed to spur a massive national reforestation program as an “antidote to climate change.”

Seven other important bills were approved on second reading in plenary, making it 22.

Aside from the 2008 budget, among the measures up in the bicameral conference are the amendments to the charter of the University of the Philippines (UP); the Cheaper Medicines Bill; and Strengthening Development Programs of Micro, Small & Medium Scale Enterprises.

De Venecia and Defensor said the House’s unanimous vote disproved claims that they are helpless against an all-powerful multinational lobby working against the passage of the bill that seeks, among others, to create a price control body to make medicines affordable.

Not since the approval of the Generics Act in the 1990s has legislation of this nature been debated on as intensely in plenary.

“We voted on the side of history, and we have upheld the people’s interest and the national interest above all else,” De Venecia said.

The prices of medicines will not be reduced overnight but the bill provides the policy and legal framework to promote competition, and the creation of a drug price regulatory board described as an “important safeguard and check mechanism.”

The other bills awaiting plenary approval include amending the EPIRA Law, the Strengthening of the Regulatory Capacity of the Bureau of Food and Drugs, and Granting the Right of Reply & Providing Penalties.