House leaders working on Duterte wish list

MANILA, Philippines — Members of the House of Representatives are acting on 12 priority measures that President Rodrigo Duterte has proposed for his last year in office.

A check on the House website showed that two bills have been filed on providing legal assistance to personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.

These are House Bill No. 9898, filed by appropriations committee chair and ACT-CIS Rep. Eric Yap on July 29, and House Bill No. 9902 filed by Parañaque City Rep. Joy Myra Tambunting on July 30.

In his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 26, Duterte proposed legal assistance for policemen and soldiers “to help them from charges arising from incidents related to the performance of official duty.”

This was after Fatou Bensouda, in her final act as chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, requested in June an investigation by that body into Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, saying “there is a reasonable basis to believe that the crime against humanity of murder has been committed.”

The bills have been referred to the chamber’s justice committee for deliberation.

Other measures

Duterte identified 10 other measures in his Sona which he wanted passed into law in his last year in office.

These are bills on reforming the military and uniformed personnel (MUP) pension system, establishing evacuation centers on each city and municipality, and modernizing the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

He also proposed amendments to the Foreign Investment Act, the Public Service Act, and the Retail and Trade Liberalization Act.

The president also proposed the creation of the following agencies: the Department of Overseas Filipino Workers; Department of Disaster Resilience; the Philippine Center for Disease Prevention and Control; and the Virology Institute of the Philippines.

Sent to Senate

Earlier, House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez said the chamber had passed most of the measures identified by the president, except for the MUP pension reform bill and the free legal assistance for AFP and PNP personnel.

He said the House had already transmitted to the Senate the following bills proposed by Duterte: the Foreign Investments Act (House Bill No. 300), the Public Service Act (House Bill No. 78), Creating the Department of Filipinos Overseas and Foreign Employment (House Bill No. 5832), E-Governance Act (House Bill No. 6927), Creating the Department of Disaster Resilience (House Bill No. 5989), and the proposed law Establishing Evacuation Centers in Every City and Municipality (House Bill No. 8990).

House Deputy Speaker and 1-Pacman Rep. Michael Romero has also filed an e-governance bill, House Bill No. 9911, which was referred to the House information and communications technology panel.

BFP modernization bill

The chamber also passed on final reading bills that would create the Philippine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (House Bill No. 9560), and the Virology Institute of the Philippines (House Bill No. 9559).

Recently, both chambers of Congress ratified the bicameral report for the proposed BFP modernization bill, while the retail and trade liberalization bill is under bicameral conference deliberations.