Congress to push BBL and FOI in PNoy’s last year

Congress will prioritize the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in the last year of the Aquino administration.

Senate President Franklin Drilon said he and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte have agreed to take up at least six priority measures, including the two controversial bills, in the next six months before the start of the election campaign period for May 2016 polls.

“We realize that we have six months remaining for the Third Regular Session of the 16th Congress to monitor our legislative agenda. There’s a lot on our plate but we intend to achieve as much as we can. We have six months up to December 18, kaya puspusan ang trabaho,” Drilon said in a weekly press forum at the Senate.

Aside from FOI and BBL, Congress will also prioritize the proposed

2016 national budget, the creation of the Department of Communications and Information Technology (DICT), strengthening of the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) law and the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA)

Modernization Act. BBL committee report Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., will file his committee report on the BBL on Aug. 3, 2015, Drilon said.

After presenting the committee report, senators will immediately immediately proceed with interpellations on the bill at the plenary.

“On the part of the Senate for the BBL, I had a meeting with Senators (Ralph) Recto and Marcos, that he will be ready to file the report on Aug. 3, one week after the SONA,” Drilon said.

After the filing of the report, Drilon said he would call for an allsenators’ caucus to discuss a realistic timeline of the priority measures including the BBL.

Speaking to media separately, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Teresita Quintos Deles said the government remains committed and is looking forward to reaching more milestones in the Bangsamoro peace process with less than a year left in the Aquino administration.

“We are not just counting the days left in the administration, but instead we are looking at what we still have left to do in terms of the peace process, especially the Bangsamoro peace process. We look forward to even more milestones as

our term winds down,” Deles said.

Other measures Drilon said that the other top priority measures are the Tariff and Customs Reform Act, the National Identification System, Prepaid SIM Card Registration, and other measures.

“We will monitor these progress every two weeks,” Drilon said.

Also apart from the six priority measures, the Senate will closely monitor and push 15 other bills.

“But we will not raise our expectations since we have only six months left. We will meet every two week to monitor the progress of these priority measures and other bills,” Drilon said. (With a report from Francis T. Wakefield)