Senate to focus on priority bills
PHILIPPINE Senate President Francis “Chiz” G. Escudero on Monday said they would seek to pass priority measures in the final stages of approval since many of them are still pending at several committees.
“We will not be in a hurry,” he said in a statement. “Neither will we be relaxing and waste time before these bills are passed. We will just prioritize those that are close to being finished.”
In its meeting last week, the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) added five bills to its list of priority measures expected to be approved by June next year, including proposals to allow foreign investors to lease land for up to 99 years and amend a 2019 law that liberalized the rice sector.
Priority bills pending before Senate committees include a measure seeking to bring back the National Food Authority’s (NFA) power to buy locally milled rice and import the staple, another seeking a P20 excise tax on single-use plastics, and one seeking to establish a Department of Water Resources.
“A lot of them are still at the bicameral level, while others are at the committee level and others haven’t been filed,” Mr. Escudero said. — John Victor D. Ordoñez