The Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) Executive Committee (ExCom) has endorsed 25 bills to be passed this year.
In a statement on Tuesday, the National Economic and Development Authority, which sits as the LEDAC secretariat, said 12 bills would be prioritized to be passed by June 2021 while the remaining 13 should be passed by December 2021.
“The LEDAC-ExCom was convened last February 18, 2021 to discuss the CLA (Common Legislative Agenda). These bills are crucial in ensuring the country’s economic recovery and in regaining our development trajectory that was held back by the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue working with Congress to move the legislative agenda forward and enact these priority legislations within 2021,” said Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and LEDAC Secretariat Head Karl Kendrick Chua.
The Neda said there were 27 measures included in the initial CLA but five bills have already been passed by both Houses. In the LEDAC ExCom, three more bills were identified as priority measures, rounding up the CLA to 30 bills.
Of these, 12 were identified as top priorities to be passed by the end of the second regular session in June 2021. The remaining 13 are targeted to be passed within 2021.
The 12 bills that have to be passed by June 2021 are:
· Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery (GUIDE) Act
· Package 3 of Comprehensive Tax Reform Package (CTRP) or the Valuation Reform Act
· Package 4 of CTRP or the Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act (PIFITA)
· Amendments to the Public Service Act
· Amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act
· Amendments to the Foreign Investments Act
· Rural Agricultural and Fisheries Development Financing System Act (Agri-Agra)
· Creating a Medical Reserve Corps Act
· Creating a Disease Prevention and Control Authority Act
· Imposing Amusement Tax on Digital Platform and Offshore Betting Stations of Licensed Cockpits
· Establishing the Tax Regime of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO)
· Strengthening Local Government Participation in National Development by Increasing the Share of Local Government Units in the National Internal Revenue Taxes
The 13 bills that should be passed by December 2021 are:
· Creating a Department of Overseas Filipinos Act
· Creating a Department of Disaster Resilience Act
· Creating a Boracay Island Development Authority Act
· Creating a Unified System of Separation, Retirement and Pension of the Military and Uniformed Personnel Act
· National Land Use and Management Act
· Internet Transactions Act
· Magna Carta for Barangay Health Workers Act
· National Housing Development Act
· Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Act
· Modernizing the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Act
· Modernizing the Bureau of Immigration Act
· Amending/Repealing RA 10192, or the Continuing Professional Development Act of 2016
· Reviving the Death Penalty by Lethal Injection for Crimes specified under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002
The NEDA said the 5 priority measures that have already been passed by both Houses are the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021; Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer (FIST) Act; Amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act; Coconut Farmers’ and Industry Trust Fund Act; and the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act.
“As we safely reopen our economy and begin our vaccination program this year, we need to enact these bills to create an enabling economic environment and further strengthen our healthcare and fiscal system against future pandemics and other threats,” said Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.
“The pandemic has pulled back our human development gains, but at the same time, it has given us the opportunity to assess how we can bounce back stronger and protect our people from future shocks. The measures in the CLA will lay the groundwork to ensure that Filipinos will not face the same problems of hunger, job loss, and sickness in the future,” the Executive Secretary added.
The meeting was attended by LEDAC ExCom Chairperson and Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Senate President Vicente Sotto III, House Speaker Lord Allan Jay Velasco, together with several members from the Cabinet, Senate, and House leadership.
The meeting also included Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei Nograles, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado, Undersecretary Jacinto Paras of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO), Senate Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, House Senior Deputy Speaker Salvador Leachon, House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, and House Minority Leader Joseph Stephen Paduano.