House OKs over 200 bills

MANILA, Philippines - Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. yesterday said members of the House of Representatives had worked hard in approving more than 300 measures, including resolutions, since the 15th Congress opened its second regular session in July.

In his message to lawmakers when the House went on recess yesterday, Belmonte said the accomplishment was in response to President Aquino’s call to end the culture of entitlement and inequality.

“Since then, we have worked hard to expedite the passage of reform measures that seek not only to challenge but, more importantly, to change this cultural anomaly,” Belmonte said.

He said the “diligence and perseverance” of House members led to the approval of 208 measures on third reading, including the P1.816-trillion national budget for 2012, and eight bills approved on second reading. The chamber also adopted 166 resolutions.

Committee reports on four priority measures are nearing completion while 25 urgent bills have been approved at the committee level, he said.

Belmonte said another 45 priority bills are under deliberation by various House panels to include technical working groups.

He said the swift approval of the budget would allow the funding of social programs such as the expanded Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program “that nurture the potential of those previously neglected and currently marginalized” and “stifle the source of and the opportunity for corruption through an itemized budget.”

Among the bills approved on third and final reading are the Hazardous and Radioactive Waste Management Act as well as the measure banning plastic bags thinner than 15 microns.

“These twin measures are essential in protecting our environment, the destruction of which cause greater damage on the poor who have less resources and therefore lower adaptive capacity,” Belmonte said.

Also passed on third reading is the bill implementing open learning through distance education that he said is an alternative system of learning that provides wider access to quality higher education.

It is designed to lower the cost of education through, among others, digital interconnection. This measure will therefore support the nation’s quest to further develop its human resources, and improve the efficiency and employability of the members of its labor force, he said.

The House on Wednesday also approved the bill fixing the country’s maritime zone and the bicameral conference committee report on the measure imposing a fixed term for ranking officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Among those passed on second reading was the bill creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology which should further help boost the growth of the country’s business processing and outsourcing (BPO) sector.

“The BPO sector has become an important contributor to the employment of our people, and a pillar of our economy,” Belmonte said.

He also cited the holding of the first Legislative Summit last Sept. 29, which gave the House “an opportunity to explore and thresh out common legislative priorities with the Senate, and to reduce deadlocks between our chambers.”

“It also gave us an opportunity to discuss the possibility of amending certain economic provisions of our Constitution in order to make our economy more competitive and responsive to the needs of the present globalizing world,” Belmonte said.

These issues will undoubtedly generate heated discussions and divergent opinions, he said.

“But our chamber has never skirted, but in fact fully embraced this as necessary not only to strengthen the sinews of our representative democracy but to arrive at the best policy that would benefit the most number,” Belmonte said.