14 out of the 57 priority bills enacted into law - PBBM

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday said the government has reprioritized bills aimed at improving livelihood, protecting the environment, and strengthening security.

The Chief Executive made the announcement through his Facebook page, as he reported that 14 out of the 57 priority bills identified by his administration have already been enacted into law.

"We've enacted 14 of 57 priority bills and are reprioritizing measures to boost livelihood, protect the environment, and strengthen security," Marcos Jr. said, underscoring the government's commitment to addressing critical issues facing the nation.

"With seven more bills slated for passage in June, we're advancing towards a stronger Bagong Pilipinas," Marcos Jr. added.

In a separate statement, Malacañang said Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri committed Marcos Jr. to pass all the legislative measures being pushed by the administration by June this year.

"Good news, many of the requests from our President have been approved here in the LEDAC, both Houses of Congress have already approved them and they are now in the final stages. It's just a matter of the President's signature, or they are in the Bicameral Conference Committee Meetings, which means they will soon become laws," Zubiri said.

"So, we still have some pending, of course, because we haven't finished yet. But we have committed to the President that all 23 measures will hopefully be completed by June before the Senate's break or sine-die break. That's our commitment to the House of Representatives together with the President. But we're on track to pass all of these by June," he added.

Zubiri mentioned that fifteen of the measures are set to be finished prior to the Senate's Sine die adjournment, with the remaining eight expected to be approved by June.

House Speaker Martin Romualdez, for his part, affirmed that all the priority measures outlined by LEDAC have been successfully addressed and forwarded to the Senate.

"And the reason why we went ahead is because we need to finish our work in the House first before we bring it up to the Senate. That's why we always focus on our LEDAC priority measures so that the deliberations in the Senate won't be delayed, so we always – not to rush, but we really put in overtime in the House," Romualdez said.

During the 6th LEDAC Technical Working Group Meeting on January 16, 2024, 21 bills were identified as priority measures for passage by June this year but were eventually narrowed down to 15 considering the limited remaining session days.

The LEDAC, however, moved to add five more priority measures that will support social and economic initiatives to be passed by June 2024. These include Open Access in Digital Transmission Act, Enterprise-based Education Programme (Apprenticeship Act), CREATE More, An Act Creating the Department of Water Management and Amendments to the Universal Health Care Act.

Among the 15 priority measures for passage by the end of June include the Amendments to Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act/Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, Self-Reliant Defense Posture Act, Philippine Maritime Zones Act, Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act, Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System (PENCAS), and the Negros Island Region Act. Also on the list include the Anti-Financial Accounts Scamming Act, Value Added Tax on Digital Services, Amendments to the Government Procurement Reform Act, Blue Economy Act, Waste-to-Energy Bill, Mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and National Service Training Program (NSTP), Unified System of Separation, Retirement, and Pension of Military and Uniformed Personnel, E-Government Act/E-Governance Act, and Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program Act.

Of the 57 total number of Common Legislative Agenda bills for the 19th Congress, 14 have been signed into law while 43 are remaining. Signed into law were SIM Card Registration Act, Postponement of Barangay/SK elections, Strengthening Professionalism in the AFP, New Agrarian Emancipation Act, Maharlika Investment Fund, Trabaho Para sa Bayan Act, Public-Private Partnership Code of the Philippines, Regional Specialty Centers, Automatic Income Classification of LGUs, Internet Transactions Act, Ease of Paying Taxes Act, Tatak Pinoy (Proudly Filipino) Act, Philippine Salt Industry Development Act and New Philippine Passport Act.