Priority on LEDAC-backed bills
The House leaders will exhaust all means possible to make sure that the Executive and the Legislative departments are always in one direction with regard to the version of the priority and certified bills
After passing the 2020 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) early, the House of Representatives has vowed to prioritize bills approved by a small group formed from the members of Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).
In a statement, House Majority Floor Leader Martin Romualdez said that the small group called Legislative-Executive Coordinating Council (LECC) has listed down four measures to be prioritized by the Congress specifically the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) 5 for civilian state workers; creation of the Department of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW); postponement of the May 2020 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls to May 2023, and free legal assistance to the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Romualdez said that the House is looking forward to passing the bills approved by the mini-LEDAC before the Congress adjourns in December.
The said LECC meeting was attended by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senators Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go and Joel Villanueva, and Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte.
The House leader said that the LECC has approved these bills as priority ahead of the LEDAC meeting which was usually chaired by the President and attended by the Vice President, Senate President, House Speaker, three members each from the House and Senate, local government unit’s representatives, and representatives from youth and private sectors.
“Let’s wait for the official communication from the Palace about the final list of priority legislative measures it would be submitting to Congress. These are just the initial list. In the meantime, we agreed to pursue these as our common priority measures,” Romualdez said.
The Leyte representative said that the House is committed to expedite the bills and work in harmony with the Senate and Cabinet members to pursue their common goal under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“The House leaders will exhaust all means possible to make sure that the Executive and the Legislative departments are always in one direction with regard to the version of the priority and certified bills filed in the 18th Congress. We do not want to put to waste all the resources, time and effort, which are normally spent in passing bills,” he added.
The House leader further explained that Congress wants to prevent vetoed bills by working closely with the Executive Department and their counterparts in the
Senate.