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AS
Congress resumes session on Monday, House leaders vowed
to steer the approval of various social, economic,
judicial and political reform measures before it
adjourns sine die in June.
These
measures include the controversial Philippine baselines
bill, the proposed tax exemption for minimum-wage
earners and the cheaper- medicines bill.
Speaker
Prospero Nograles said that also on the list of
priorities are various measures promoting food security
even as he expressed optimism that the House can
fast-track committee deliberations and the approval of
the corporate farming and antihoarding measures that he
and Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Abraham Mitra of
Palawan, chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture,
will file upon the resumption of session, and the
proposed extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
law.
“These
measures need to be prioritized to address our present
rice situation,” said Nograles.
“We will
have our hands full starting Monday. We have a long
array of measures which we intend to approve before we
adjourn sine die this June,” he added.
Nograles
said he expects that Congress and the Executive branch
will be able to firm up a common action plan during the
Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council
meeting on Tuesday.
Nograles
also expects that the House web site on Priority
Development Assistance Fund, also known as the “pork
barrel,” of the members of the House of Representatives
will be officially launched in the next two weeks.
“The
development team will make its presentation this Tuesday
and, hopefully, we will be able to have it publicly
accessible in the next two weeks,” Nograles said.
Besides
the bills on baseline, cheaper medicines, tax exemption,
agrarian- reform extension, corporate farming and
antihoarding, Nograles said the House intends to pass
several more measures before its June 30 sine die
adjournment. |
