House OKs 14 bills

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading 14 bills, including measures that would expand the law on probation and establish education and rehabilitation centers for children with disabilities.

The passage of the bills came during a break in the deliberation of the proposed P2-trillion national budget for 2013 last week. The proposed budget was approved on second reading on Thursday.

Among the measures approved were House Bills 6509 and 6547 which seek to uplift the welfare of the youth with disabilities, high IQ and special needs.

Bagong Henerasyon Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy, vice chair of the House committee on children’s welfare, said HB 6547 provides for the establishment of at least one Special Education (SPED) center for each school division in the country that will focus on students who need special attention due to physical disabilities, learning difficulties and high intelligence capabilities. It also seeks to establish three SPED centers in big school divisions.

HB 6509, principally authored by Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño, provides for the establishment of city and municipal rehabilitation centers for children and youth with disabilities.

In making the proposal, Casiño cited the 2000 Census of Population and Housing in the Philippines which showed that there are 942,098 persons with disabilities (PWDs) or about 1.23 percent of the country’s total population.

“It is estimated that one in 20 households has at least one member that has a disability, half of whom are not able to attend and finish elementary education,” the lawmaker said.

“Compared to people without disabilities, PWDs are three times more likely to miss school or not to finish any grade level and more than 40 percent of PWDs are also not gainfully employed,” he added.

Also passed was House Bill 4368, which seeks to harmonize the Family Code with the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on divorce obtained by an alien spouse in another country.

Lawmakers also approved HB 6307, which establishes the liability of the absolute community or conjugal partnership for an obligation of a spouse who practices a profession and the capability of either spouse to dispose of an exclusive property without the consent of the other spouse.

The House also passed HB 6203, which seeks to remove the height requirement in the hiring of policemen, jail guards and firemen; and HB 6474, or the Food Safety Act of 2012, pushed by the House Committee on Agriculture chaired by Batangas Rep. Mark Llandro Mendoza.

The committee also succeeded in passing HB 6548, which seeks to promote agricultural and fisheries mechanization development.

Other bills passed include HB 6544 which seeks to expand the law on probation to benefit persons convicted of crimes with penalties of up to eight years imprisonment and those found guilty of committing violations of laws on national security and public order; HB 6545 for the institution of a national land use and management policy; HB 6329 creating the Philippine thoroughbred Horseracing Authority; HB 6419, which provides for free and culture sensitive system of registration concerning the civil status of indigenous peoples; HB 6481 amending the Chapter 12 on cooperative banks of Republic Act 9520, otherwise known as the Philippine Cooperative Code of 2006; HB 6542 which seeks to amend Republic Act 9189 or the absentee voting by qualified citizens, and HB 6538 regulating the education and licensure of physicians and the practice of medicine in the Philippines, otherwise known as the Physicians Act of 2012.