Congress to prioritize economic measures after SONA
measures as well as a bill seeking to postpone elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region to 2025 will be the Senate’s priority for approval in the tight schedule of the third and final session of the 18th Congress which opens today.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said Congress’ session days will be busy as lawmakers also tackle the 2022 national budget amid longer breaks for the filing of certificates of candidacy in October for those running in the elections in May next year and the campaign period.
The sessions as well as committee hearings are expected to remain “hybrid,” meaning lawmakers have the option to attend proceedings online as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage.
“After the December break, it’s all politics. It would be difficult to pass laws,” Zubiri told dzBB yesterday.
Sotto said the Senate would
work for the passage of 10 measures which include proposed amendments to the Foreign Investment Acts (FIA), amendments to the Public Service Act, Retail Trade Liberalization Act, Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery, Department of Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act, Package 4 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) or the Passive Income Tax and Financial Intermediary Tax Act, creation of the Virology Science and Technology Institute, Rural Agricultural and Fisheries Development Financing System Act and Package 3 of the CTRP or the Valuation Reform Bill.
Zubiri said the chamber will also pass the proposed modernization of the Bureau of Fire Protection, Increasing the Statutory Rape Age Act, Military and Uniformed Personnel Insurance Fund Act, Philippine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Act, the proposed BARMM Extension Law and possibly the Bayanihan 3.
He said the retail trade bill needs to hurdle one last meeting in the bicameral conference committee while the FIA only has a few amendments left for deliberation in plenary.
Zubiri said the proposed Bayanihan 3 may be tackled if the spread of the Delta variant of the virus is not contained and the government has to enforce economically debilitating lockdowns again.
House agenda
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives will work double time starting today to approve the proposed P5.024 trillion national budget for 2022 and other measures like combatting the pandemic before the deadline for filing of certificates of candidacy.
“We will work hard to pass the 2022 national budget before the deadline of the filing of COCs,” House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez said, emphasizing the chamber’s target schedule under the leadership of Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.
The filing of COCs is from Oct. 1 to 8.
“We will take advantage of the technology. In fact, the Zoom has allowed us to have an engagement that is actually much more than what has been afforded by the actual presence of each and every member of the House,” Romualdez said.