The Congress eyes the passage of bills regarding the postponement of Barangay-Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) and SIM Card Registration by the start of October, House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe said on Friday.
Both bills are already in their third and final reading.
In a statement, the House majority leader said the Congress is advocating the initiative to ensure that they will “move forward in the same direction.”
“We initially met last night (Thursday) to discuss our common legislative agenda. The House and Senate leaderships are eyeing the postponement of barangay and SK elections and passage of SIM card registration bill before our adjournment this September. This is to ensure that the entire Congress is moving forward in the same direction,” he said.
The statement was remarked by Dalipe after meeting with House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, and Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva in Makati City.
October 1 will also be the target date in the passage of the 2023 P5.268-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) or the national budget next year, Dalipe followed.
The bills subjected to be passed by the start of next month along with GAB, will be the SIM card registration bill aimed to lessen crimes utilizing the platform of text messaging which was passed by the House Committee on Information and Communications this Monday and the postponement of Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections scheduled this December 5, 2022 and December 4 next year.
The mentioned House leaders also cemented their commitment to support the Marcos administration’s legislative agenda presented by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in his first State of the Nation Address.
“Our main priority is economic recovery, with agriculture as the key driver for growth and employment.”
“We will push for the passage of more reform-oriented measures to improve good governance and uplift the lives of Filipinos. We are here to serve the people,” Dalipe added.
A long list of agenda was delivered by the President in his address in July; some of these are Medical Reserve Corps Bill, Virology Institute of the Philippines Bill, condonation for agrarian reform beneficiaries, amendments to the Build-Operate-Transfer Law, mandatory ROTC, Magna Carta for Filipino Seafarers, apprenticeship bill, and benefits for barangay health workers, among others.
The mentioned agendas are the initially agreed top priorities of the House leaders.
Another meeting with top Senate and House leaders will be held again to plan the finalized list of their common legislative priorities, while the Congress is waiting for the assembly of Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council to plan the initiatives and request of the executive branch for the legislature, Dalipe ended.
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