MANILA, Philippines — House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez on Tuesday said the lower chamber is ready to pass legislations mentioned by President Rodrigo Duterte in his State of the Nation Address (SONA), vowing to have a thorough discussions on controversial measures such as the reimposition of death penalty.
Romualdez, who also chairs the House committee on rules, said that the House has already passed some of the measures that Duterte pushed for in his speech such as the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives Enterprises Act (CREATE) and the bill creating the Department of Overseas Filipinos. The measures are still pending in the Senate.
On Duterte’s call for the reimposition of the capital punishment for drug-related charges, Romualdez said in a statement: “The House also assures that the death penalty measures will be deliberated on thoroughly.”
Currently, measures seeking the re-imposition of death penalty for drug-related charges are still pending before the committee level.
The House of Representatives, during the 17th Congress, gave its nod to House Bill No. 4727 seeking to reimpose capital punishment for heinous and drug-related offenses, but this did not prosper in the Senate.
When Duterte mentioned the controversial proposal in his SONA, he noted that there seemed to have been no applause. The president said he presumes lawmakers are not interested.
Aside from the death penalty, Duterte called on Congress to pass several bills, such as the following:
Bayanihan To Recover As One Act or Bayanihan 2
CREATE Act
Financial Institutions Strategy Transfer (FIST) Act
Department of Overseas Filipinos
National Housing Development Bill and the Rental Housing Subsidy Bill
Amendment to Republic Act No. 10192 for the Continuing Professional Development Act of 2016
Advanced Nursing Education Act and measure instituting the medical reserve corps
Creation of National Disease Prevention Management Authority
Creation of Department of Disaster Resilience
National Land Use Act
Creation of the Boracay Island Authority or BIDA
Rural Agricultural and Fisheries Development Financing Act
Unified System of Separation Retirement and Pension for Uniformed Personnel
Modernization of the Bureau of Fire Protection
Coconut Levy Act
Internet Transactions Act
“Despite the uncertain times brought by the global pandemic, we will ensure that the administration’s priority bills will be realized with efficiency for the welfare of the Filipino people,” Romualdez said.
Romualdez said that upon the instruction of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, he will work closely with Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri to tackle the President’s latest priority measures and those that have been mentioned in his last year’s SONA.
“We expect that the Senate will work hand-in-hand with the House to smoothen the deliberations and passage of these vital bills,” he said.
According to Romualdez, five priority measures mentioned by Duterte in his SONA in 2019 have already been signed into law such as the postponement of the May 2020 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections; Establishment of Malasakit Centers; Increasing and Restructuring the Excise Tax Rates on Alcohol, Heated Tobacco, and Vapor Products; Creation of the National Academy of Sports; and The Salary Standardization Law of 2019 which increased the salary of teachers and nurses.