House opens second regular session

The second regular session of the 17th Congress opened at 10 a.m. Monday, a few hours before President Rodrigo Duterte was set to deliver his second State of the Nation Address (Sona) at the House of Representatives.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez banged the gavel at 10:04 a.m., signaling the start of the second regular session.

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During the first regular session, the lower house boasted of passing on final reading bills on the death penalty for drug-related offenses, the 10-year validity of Philippine passports, the five-year validity of driver’s license, bills amending the Revised Penal Code, a free public WiFi bill, the tax reform package, a free college education bill and the bill including casinos in the coverage of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, among others.

The lower house processed 1,247 measures in 97 session days for an average of 13 measures processed per day, in the first regular session from July 25, 2016 to May 31, 2017.

The first regular session was relatively less productive than previous Congresses.

READ: 17th Congress not as productive as predecessors in its first session 

During the first regular session of the 15th Congress from July 26, 2010 to June 8, 2011, the lower house processed 1,712 measures in 73 session days, for an average of 23 measures processed per day, according to its performance report.

During the first regular session of the 16th Congress from July 22, 2013 to June 11, 2014, the lower house processed 1,136 bills in 69 session days, for an average of 16 measures processed per day, according to a separate performance report.

House leaders in a previous press conference defended the legislative performance of the first regular session, adding that the number of bills did not accurately reflect the productivity of the House.

They urged instead to look at the quality of the bill churned out by the legislative mill. CBB/rga

READ: House leaders defend performance of 17th Congress after a year