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SENATE
President Manny Villar Jr., asserting that senators have
not been remiss in their legislative duties despite
ongoing inquiries into administration anomalies,
reported that the Senate has passed 23 bills of national
significance during the first regular session of the
current Congress.
“In the
first eight months of the 14th Congress, we worked for
the passage of social legislations [that were] crafted
with the weaker sectors of society in mind,” Villar said
on the eve of their adjournment for the Holy Week
recess.
“We
intend to pass more bills promoting the common good for
the rest of the year,” he added.
While on
recess, Villar confirmed that the Senate leadership
authorized the chairmen of the different committees to
hold public hearings on priority matters referred to
them.
“We take
pride in what we do in the Senate. We conduct
investigations, ratify treaties and deliberate on
legislative proposals, while taking the time to appear
before the Supreme Court and defend our mandate as a
legislature under the Constitution,” Villar explained.
He noted
that legal luminaries such as Fr. Joaquin Bernas, former
Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban and
former SC Associate Justice Isagani Cruz, among others,
supported the Senate position in asking the Supreme
Court to rule on the legality of former socioeconomic
planning secretary Romulo Neri’s invocation of executive
privilege to dodge questions on the anomalous
$329-million broadband contract.
Villar
described the passage of 23 bills of national
application as “an unparalleled feat,” noting that in
the history of the legislature, “the Senate has never
accomplished that much in so little time at the start of
a new Congress.”
He
listed the major bills the Senate passed on third
reading, as follows: Senate Bill (SB) 1620, Granting
additional retirement benefits to members of the
judiciary (October 1, 2007); Senate Joint Resolution 4,
Directing the Department of Justice, Philippine National
Police, Department of the Interior and Local Government,
all law-enforcement agencies and other government
agencies tasked to enforce peace and order to issue the
rules and regulations on presentation of suspects under
their custody to the media (November 5, 2007);
SB 1646,
Promoting entrepreneurship by strengthening the
development and assistance programs to micro, small and
medium-scale enterprises (November 5, 2007); SB 1647,
Providing for conduct time allowances to detention
prisoners and those serving sentence by virtue of final
judgment (November 5, 2007);
SB 1658,
Providing for quality affordable medicines (November 5,
2007); SB 1662, Providing additional benefits and
protection to house helpers (November 5, 2007); SB 1697,
Providing stiffer penalties for the crime of theft and
robbery of portable telecommunications devices (November
5, 2007);
SB 1698,
Expanding the promotion of breast-feeding (November 5,
2007); SB 1699, Promoting environmental awareness
through environmental education (November 5, 2007);
Senate Resolution 212, Resolution concurring in the
ratification of the Treaty on the Transfer of Sentenced
Persons Between the Philippines and Spain (November 26,
2007); SB 1532, Providing compensation to victims of
human-rights violations during the Marcos regime
(December 5, 2007);
SB 1882,
Establishing a Provident Personal Savings Plan, known as
the Personal Equity and Retirement Account (December 5,
2007); House Bill (HB) 2454, General Appropriations Act
(December 11, 2007); SB 1648, Extending the Agricultural
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (December 12, 2007); SB
1881, Establishing the Credit Information System
(December 19, 2007);
SB 1964,
Strengthening the University of the Philippines as a
national university (December 19, 2007); HB 3156,
Creating the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines
(December 19, 2007); SB 1874, Declaring May 7 as Health
Workers’ Day (January 30, 2008); SB 1710, Limiting the
reappointment of a regular member of the Judicial and
Bar Council who has already served the full term
(February 4, 2008);
SB 1659,
Allowing Filipino World War II Veterans to continue
receiving Philippine government pensions and benefits
even when similar pensions and benefits are provided by
the US government (February 5, 2008); SB 1965,
Decriminalizing vagrancy, amending Article 202 of the
Revised Penal Code (February 12, 2008); SB 2009, Further
expanding the organizational structure of the Court of
Tax Appeals (March 3, 2008); and SB 2092, Establishing
livelihood and skills training centers in fourth-,
fifth- and sixth-class municipalities (March 11, 2008).
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