Before taking a break this week, the 16th Congress managed to pass close to 300 bills, more than a hundred of them were enacted into law, Senate President Franklin Drilon reported on Thursday.
The 16th Congress opened in July 2013 and will adjourn sine die in June 2016.
Out of the 284 bills passed into law during the 16th Congress, Drilon said 116 were signed into law; 59 are waiting the signature of President Benigno Aquino III; 98 were approved on third reading; while seven are pending at the bicameral conference committee; and four are pending ratification by the House of Representatives.
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Among the key measures passed into law were raising the tax exemption ceiling on the workers’ 13th month pay (P30,000 to P82,000), raise the subsistence allowance for members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, and the Sangguniang Kabataan Reform Act.
Also signed into law were the Philippine Competition Act, the Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act and An Act Allowing The Full Entry of Foreign Banks, among others.
Despite the many investigations conducted during the present Congress, Drilon said: “We did not neglect our principal duties of enacting laws and policies for the good of our country.”
“This Congress was not affected by the controversies we saw in the past three years. We passed many reform measures which languished in the legislative mills for years and we are proud of particularly of those bills concerning the economy,” he said in an earlier interview over ABS-CBN News Channel. CDG
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