Dalipe assures passage of remaining priority bills in House

MANILA, Philippines — Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe has assured the public that the House of Representatives will approve the three remaining priority bills left on their watch, noting that the chamber has performed well in supporting the President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s legislative agenda

In a statement on Monday, Dalipe said only three Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) priority bills are left — the proposed amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), the proposed Budget Modernization Act, and the proposed National Defense Act.

“The House of Representatives will pass the remaining three bills on the LEDAC list: Proposed amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act is under technical working group deliberation, while the Budget Modernization Bill and the National Defense Act are for committee consideration,” he said.

Currently, Dalipe noted that the House has passed on third reading 54 out of the 57 Ledac-priority bills — which he said is a stark contrast to what the Senate has achieved.

“Under Speaker Martin Romualdez’s leadership, we have done our part in supporting the President’s legislative, prosperity and economic development agenda, whose goal is to make life better for every Filipino,” Dalipe said.

“We have considered, deliberated on and passed all of the President’s priority bills and almost all of the LEDAC measures with a deep sense of urgency, which unfortunately was obviously not shared by our Senate colleagues,” he added.

Dalipe said the Ledac has asked that 21 priority bills be passed by June 2024, to which the House has complied with months before. However, the House official noted that the Senate has only approved three of the 21 priority bills — for a meager 14.28 percent.

For the 17 bills that the President in his previous State of the Nation Address (Sona), Dalipe said the House has already approved on third reading all of it, but the Senate only passed five.

This is not the first time that a House member called out the Senate for not acting on bills they approved. Last January, Camarines Sur 2nd District Rep. LRay Villafuerte appealed to senators to act on bills that the House of Representatives has approved, as the session resumed.

Villafuerte mentioned five House bills (HB) in particular, which he believes are important for the administration’s legislative agenda:

• HB No. 6557 (Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers, transmitted to Senate last December 14, 2023)
• HB No. 8325 (Overseas Filipino Workers Hospital Act, transmitted to Senate last May 30, 2023)
• HB No. 9347 (Magna Carta of the Out-of-School Youth, transmitted to Senate last December 6, 2023)
• HB No. 8203 (Immigration Modernization Act, transmitted to Senate last May 30, 2023)
• HB No. 7240 (The National Government Rightsizing Act, transmitted to Senate last March 15, 2023)

READ: Villafuerte appeals to Senate to act on several House-approved bills 

Then Albay 2nd District Joey Salceda last May 2023 asked the Senate to pass two key bills — a proposal to create the country’s version of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the estate tax amnesty extension which was not approved by the Senate during that time.

READ: Salceda appeals to Senate anew: Discuss CDC bill, people are waiting 

The House and the Senate have been at odds due to senators’ fears that the House is out to abolish the Senate by way of a People’s Initiative (PI) to amend the 1987 Constitution.

READ: Senate manifesto nixes people’s initiative, warns of no-el scenario 

Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez Romualdez and other House leaders have denied being behind PI, adding that they do not intend to abolish the Senate as they are only focused on economic provisions.