‘House bills mostly for renaming of streets’

Here is another definition of the term "parliament of the streets."

Three hundred out of the 494 House bills transmitted to the Senate are concerned with road conversion and the renaming of streets, neophyte Sen. Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. noted yesterday.

Revilla, chairman of the Senate committee on public works, said the statistics reflect a lack of quality bills emanating from the House of Representatives.

He also said the remarks of some members of the House that the Senate was remiss in its duties by not passing the total of 494 House bills were unfair.

Of the 300 bills, a total of 274 seek road conversion, 12 seek the creation of engineering districts and 14 are for renaming streets.

After careful review and deliberation, Revilla recommended the approval of six bills out of the first two batches of 203 bills. The third batch has 71 referrals, which are under review and consideration, he said.

Once approved, the government will spend P6.95 million for the yearly maintenance of the six roads.

Revilla said the cost to be incurred will be taken from the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2006, which provides a five-percent allocation from the total road maintenance fund to be set aside for the maintenance of local roads which may be converted or taken over as national roads during the year.

Only House bills involving the Concepcion-Capas Road, Victoria-La Paz Road and the Ramos-Pura Road, all in Tarlac; Panglao Island Circumferential Road, Ligian-Bukidnon Road and the Anao-Ramos Road merit the nod of the Senate committee, Revilla added.

"These House bills were the only ones deemed meritorious for conversion because they qualified in the categories set by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Aside from that, only these aforementioned bills complied with all the requirements and standards also set by the DPWH," Revilla said.

Revilla said the benchmarks for approval of these bills were their economic, cultural and social impact on the community and its people.

He said his committee is unlikely to pass all 274 bills for road conversions because they were not properly studied and cannot be funded.