MANILA — Malacañang expressed its gratitude on Wednesday for the progress made in passing President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s priority legislation, crediting the cooperation between the Senate and the House of Representatives.
During a Palace briefing, the Office of the President announced that 19 out of the 64 priority measures under the administration had already been enacted into law.
At the 6th Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting led by Marcos, House Speaker Martin Romualdez reported that the Lower House had approved 26 out of the 28 LEDAC Common Legislative Agenda priority measures on the third and final reading.
“We are confident that before the year ends, we shall have completed all by December, or six months ahead of schedule,” Romualdez said, referring to amendments to the Foreign Investors’ Long Term Lease Amendments Act and the Agrarian Law.
Meanwhile, Senate President Chiz Escudero said he expects five more priority measures from the administration to be passed and enacted before the year’s end.
“It will be the same for those two bills, but in addition, the UHC Law Amendments, the EPIRA Law Amendments, and the New Department of Water Bill—approved by the House but still awaiting Senate approval—are expected to be completed once we reconcile versions with the Executive branch,” Escudero explained during the briefing.
“When sessions resume, we expect to pass about 3 to 5 more measures in the Senate, bringing the total to 13 additional bills before the 19th Congress ends its session,” he added.
Romualdez also commended Escudero’s leadership, which he said contributed to “more cohesion and coordination with the House of Representatives.”
Escudero, in turn, thanked Romualdez for his “hard work.”