Congress to pass Medical Reserve Corps, mandatory ROTC bills this year

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez (File photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

MANILA, Philippines – Both chambers of Congress have agreed to pass within the year bills seeking to create the Medical Reserve Corps and revive the military training, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said on Monday.

The Senate and the House of Representatives made the agreement made during a meeting on Monday of the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), which was led by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. 

“It’s very timely that we had our first LEDAC right before [the] budget season. That is going to be taking up most of our time in the plenary once we resume the session, and we needed this LEDAC to identify the bills we must make room for alongside the budget. This LEDAC was a success in that regard,” Zubiri said. 

Following are the other measures that Congress has resolved to pass within the year:

• creation of the National Disease Prevention Management Authority/Center for Disease Prevention and Control
• creation of the Virology Science and Technology Institute of the Philippines
• amending the Build-Operate-Transfer Law
• condonation of unpaid amortization and interest loans of agrarian reform beneficiaries

“We had a productive meeting where we reaffirmed our commitment to a common legislative agenda. We have pledged passage of bills which will accelerate our pandemic recovery, insulate our hardworking families from the inflationary fallout from global disruptions, and anchor our regions and sectors on stronger fundamentals to build resiliency and secure our future,” Zubiri said. 

Following are other priority bills, according to Zubiri:

• National Government Rightsizing Program
• Budget Modernization Bill
• Tax Package 3: Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Bill
• Tax Package 4: Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act (PIFITA)
• E-Government Act
• Internet Transactions Act/E-Commerce Law
• Government Financial Institutions (GFIs) Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery (GUIDE) Bill
• Department of Water Resources
• Unified System of Separation
• Retirement and Pension for Military and Uniformed Personnel
• E-Governance Act
• National Land Use Act
• National Defense Act
• Enabling Law for the Natural Gas Industry
• Amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act
• Regional Specialty Hospitals
• Magna Carta for Filipino Seafarers
• Waste-to-Energy Law
• Amendments to the Passport (Lifetime Validity for Senior Citizens)
• Negros Island Region

Zubiri made an assurance that the legislative leadership under the 19th Congress — meaning, he and House Speaker Martin Romualdez — would have a “working relationship and coordination between our respective chambers’ leadership in passing priority legislation.”

“The cogs of the legislative mill are fully functioning. We in Congress have started on the right footing, on the right direction, kaya’t mataas po ang pag-asa namin na magiging madali ang ugnayan ng Executive at Legislative branches of government para matugunan ang mga pangangailangan ng ating mamamayan,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Joel Villanueva, who formerly served as the chair of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development, said that his proposed Trabaho Para sa Lahat ng Pilipino Act gained support from President Marcos.

According to Villanueva, Marcos advised coordinating with the National Economic Development Authority and the Department of Trade and Industry to strengthen the implementation of the National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS).

“This bill expands the NERS into a long-term National Employment Action Plan to create decent jobs for all Filipinos, improve the employability and competencies of the workforce, and provide support to businesses to ensure the security of employment,” Villanueva said.

—IRISH LORRAINE PEREZ (TRAINEE)

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