House faces huge tasks before adjournment

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Thursday expressed hope that the 15th Congress would be able to tackle most of the pending bills before they adjourn on June 7.

He said that they kept their fingers crossed that they would be able to deal with pending measures within the roughly five weeks left.

But he went on to admit that he did not see the completion of the bills on Reproductive Health and Freedom of Information.

“We will try to see that they are taken up but I doubt that they could be completed before the adjournment.”

A day after being approved by the House Committee on Ways and Means, Belmonte also sought to propose that parties interested in the sin tax reform bill to meet and agree on amendments to the measure like base prices, indexation, and the removal of preferential treatment for some companies who are entitled to the 1996-based prices.

He urged parties to discuss and agree on amendments instead of making random recommendations so that they would have everybody’s agreement once the period for amendments came.

He also said that he was confident they could sail the measure through its second and third readings.