SB says House will approve significant bills before yearend

MANILA, Philippines –  Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said yesterday the House of Representatives is expected to approve significant measures before the yearend.

Belmonte said the bills to be approved before Congress goes on break on Dec. 18 do not include the possible ratification of the P1.645-trillion General Appropriation Bill (GAB) that is now pending in the Senate.

The House on Wednesday night approved either on second reading or third and final reading 11 bills, including local measures.

He said while many of those approved were not that significant, it showed that the various House committees were already churning out their final output or committee reports on bills they tackled in hearings.

There are about 3,600 bills filed in the 280-member House.

“So this means that we have reached a point wherein some of the bills which were previously referred to the committee were tackled and transmitted to plenary and hopefully, as we review the bills that passed the system already, that means over the next few days until Dec 18 we will be able to pass more bills passed on third reading, in addition to the GAB which we will be able to tackle before adjourning on Christmas,” Belmonte told reporters.

Among the prominent measures that are expected to be approved in the coming weeks is the amnesty proclamation of President Aquino for rightist military rebels who staged mutinies against the Arroyo administration.

The more significant bills approved last week were House Bill 417, which gives offenders the fullest benefit of preventive imprisonment; HB 600, adjusting the rate of subsidiary imprisonment to one day for an amount equivalent to daily minimum wage of a laborer in National Capital Region; HB 625 providing for the reapportionment of Maguindanao into legislative districts; HB 3546, protecting the right of students enrolled in courses requiring professional licensing examinations to enroll in review centers of their choice; and HB 3543, providing for a longer period for the rectification of simulated births, amending the Domestic Adoption Act of 1998.

The chamber is also hotly debating the controversial reproductive health (RH) bills that are pending in the House committee on population and family relations.

Belmonte vowed that the measure would reach plenary for voting by each House member. He said he expects floor debates on the RH Bill within the first quarter of next year.

“Since it (RH Bill) was tackled early in the game, there is no reason why it should not reach plenary within this 15th Congress. If a bill is highly contentious, like that one, I think it is more prudent to give it more attention. You know, if this is controversial or you can expect people on one side or another, I think it is more prudent to go through the process. Still it is started relatively early, I am very confident that it will be finished,” he said.

The House has also started committee discussions on the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill that was nearly ratified in the previous Congress.

Belmonte and Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III said the FOI Bill is one of the priority measures of the chamber.

P-Noy won’t certify FOI Bill as urgent

Meanwhile, Malacañang does not see the need for President Aquino to certify as urgent the FOI Bill although the Chief Executive had expressed support for it.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said over radio station dzRB that it would be up to Congress to pass the measure.

“As a lawyer, I can say that the Constitution has very limited instances where the President is given the privilege of certifying a bill as urgent,” Valte said.

She cited the 1987 Constitution where the President was allowed to certify a bill as urgent to address a public calamity or an emergency.

Valte said the “President wants to be judicious in exercising that privilege.”

She said if the purpose would not be public calamity or emergency, then the President would like to exercise restraint and judiciousness in certifying a bill as urgent. – With Aurea Calica