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Monday, November 4, 2019
House readies prioritY
bills es S€ssion resumes
By ttlARISSA M. tUCl-AIItNZA
As it r€sumeb session today,
the House of Repre$entatives
will prioritize the final approval '
of the bill seeking to Postpone;
the May 2o2o Barangay and"
Sangguniang Kabataan (sK)
elections and the Joint Resolu-
don extending the availability
of the 2019 apProPriations for
maintenance and caPital out-
lavs to December 31, 2o2o.
House Majority Leader and
Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez
assured that thev will roll uP
their sleeves to immediately
pass the two Priority mea-
sures.
"We aim to hit the ground
running on the first daY ofwork
Time to roll up our sle€ves once
again and work double time on
vital legislative measures," he
said in a statement.
He also expressed the House
leadership's commitment to
expedite the passage o{ a Joint
Resolution authorizing the use
of the rice subsidY as Piovided
in this yearJs P3.?57-trillion
national budget for the Pur-
chase of palay (unhusked rice)
from farmers.
During the break last octo-
ber 24, the House Committee on
Agriculture and Food aPProrred
the Joint Resolution that seeks
to alleviate the Plight of the
country's poor farmers follow-
ine the continued fall of PataY
prlces as a result of the imple-
mentati"on of Republic Act No.
11203, also known as the fuce
Tariffication Law (RTL).
q[ezon ReP. Mark Enverga'
chairman of the House Com-
mittee on Agriculture and Food,
earlier said that there is a need.
for Malacaflang to certify as ur-
gent the approval of the House
loint resolution to ensure its
speedy adoption in both houses
of Congress.
((These
He said they could imme- military officers
diately approve today, if there offer their lives to serve and
is certification from President protect the iublic. It is but iust
Duterte. to spare them from legal fees
The joint resolution man- arising from harassment and
dates the Department of So- nuisance cases," he said.
cial Welfare and Development The House leader noted that
(DSWD), Department of the
the Lower chamber aheady
. Interior and Local Government approved r8 measures on third
(DILG), Department of National and final reading since the .
-'Defense (DND), Department of
start of the 18th Congress in
Transportation (DOTr), dnd the July. These included the 2o2o
Department of Environment
national budget, keY tax bills,
and Natural Resources (DENR), and amendments to the Foreign
-ln
coordination with the Na- Investment Act of 1991.
tional Food Authority (NFA) and "The tax legislation that
the Department of Agriculture we passed under the Compre-
(DA), to directly purchase palay hensive Tax Reform Program
of the local fdrmers anddistrib- (CTRP) will help the govern-
ute rice subsidy in the form of ment achieve the A credit rating
actual rice, instead of cash. goal of th€ Duterte administra-
Romualdez said theJ would tion. we are a notch awaY from
(A'territory after a vote ofcon-
also prioritize the ptassa ge
of other economic measures fidence by Standard & Poor's
Real Property Valuation (S&P), upgrading the countryis
-
Reform. amendments to the , credit rating from
(BBB) to
(BBB+' with a stable outlook
Public Seffrice nct, a bill raising
the Motor Vehicle Road User's because of robust economic
Tax, and the creation of three growth," Romualdez said'
new departments Depart-
-
ment of Water tiesources, the * pA v€-<rtl
Department of Filipino Over-
seas, and the Department of
Disaster Resilience.
Reechoi1rg Speaker Allan
Peter Cayetano's commitment,
Romualdez said they will pass
the measures creating the three
new government agencies be-
, fore the year ends.
In his fourth State of the
Nation Address last July 22,
President Duterte asked con-
gress to pass the measures.
Romualdez said the House
is also eyeing to pass this year
the measure seeking to provide
free legal assistance to officers
and enlisted personnel of the
Armed Forces-of the Philip-
pines (AIP) whohre cfrarged in
relation to the performance of
their duties.