House to form group of bill organizers

MANILA, Philippines - The leadership of the House of Representatives is forming a group that would organize the thousands of bills filed in the chamber to enable lawmakers to work more efficiently in prioritizing and approving the measures.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said at least 2,000 bills were filed in the House since July 1 and he would have to sort them out by issues and sectors as well as priorities in terms of the legislative agenda set by the Aquino administration.

“We are forming a group right now. I think we have about 2,000 bills that are already pending. We’d like to study the bills to try to see which are simply duplication of other ideas and so forth,” Belmonte told reporters.

“But we would like to see also if there are new plans going along the general framework where the country ought to be heading which are economic growth, competitiveness, anti-poverty, anti-graft and corruption,” he said.

He said that President Aquino has mentioned some of his legislative priorities in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 26.

House Majority Leader and Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali Gonzales II said Belmonte would likely include the chamber’s six deputy speakers in the group who would be assigned “a cluster of bills based on their subject matter.”

Among the notable bills filed were one amending the 1987 Constitution from former president and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, simplifying and reducing the 12 percent value-added tax by half filed by Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas, and honoring and granting benefits to Filipino centenarians filed by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman.

“Now we have to go over these bills and find out which need to be fast-tracked,” Belmonte said.

He said Mr. Aquino recently informed him the Palace was preparing several priority bills for the consideration of Congress.

Belmonte said he expects the President to convene the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) soon to line up the priority measures for the 15th Congress.

The bills Mr. Aquino mentioned in his SONA that should be passed include the Fiscal Responsibility Bill where the legislators cannot press for passage of measures that need funding unless sources of funds have been identified, amending the Procurement Law, the National Land Use Bill, the Whistleblower’s Bill and the strengthening of the Witness Protection Program, and the amendment of the National Defense Act.