SENATORS are poised to pass, after a rigorous review, at least five major bills soon after Congress reconvenes sessions in mid-January, following a four-week Christmas recess.
Senate Majority Leader Vicente C. Sotto III said high on the list of priority bills already lined up for plenary consideration is the long awaited freedom of information (FOI) bill.
The FOI bill is one of the longest pending pieces of legislation being processed in Congress. It is meant to substantially provide access to citizens on all government records and transactions following the spirit of transparency and accountability mandated in the 1987 Constitution.
Sotto confirmed that Senators are also set to resume plenary deliberations leading to approval on second reading of proposed amendments to tighten the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla).
The Amla amendments submitted to Congress by the Department of Finance for early enactment aims to plug loopholes in the existing law that were exploited in a scheme using local banks to launder part of the loot from the $81-million Bangladesh Bank
cyber heist in New York.
Sotto reported that also up for plenary approval on second and third reading at the end of the period of amendments are pending remedial legislations to update existing laws on the coconut-levy funds, the anti-wire tapping law, as well as a bill expanding coverage of the “media shield law” authored by his grandfather, Sen. Vicente Sotto Sr., protecting journalists, to include online media in its coverage.
He added that more controversial bills also in line for the senators’ plenary consideration are the amendments to the death penalty and “sin” tax laws.
But Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III assured there are no plans to railroad the passage any of the pending bills in the upper chamber, indicating that proposed legislations will undergo rigorous review before these are put to a vote on third and final reading.
“We should pass only those bills which are needed by the country and not pass bills just for the sake of having passed bills,” Pimentel told the BusinessMirror.
He affirmed the Senate leadership’s stand when asked about pending bills likely to be passed quickly when lawmakers return to work after their Christmas vacation.