THE PHILIPPINE STAR

MONDAY I MAY 20,2Or9

Congress resumes session, to rush anti-terror, endo bills

Congress will resume session to-
day with the Senate and the House
of Representatives expected to rush
the passage of key bills before tl.re
two chambers finally adjourn in
three weeks.
Senate President Vicente Sotto
-.1
called for a caucus of majority sena-
tors before the plenary session in the
aftemoon to finalize the legislative
agenda of the chamber beTore the
17th Congress closes on June 7.
Sotto said one of the priorities is
III to pass the amendments to the Hu-
man Security Act, including chang-
ing its title to "Anti-Terrorism Act"
and strengthening what its authors
wamed were its weak provisions ttrat
do not deter terror groups,
The measure was sponsored on
the floor by Sen. Panfilo Lacson,
chair of the Senate committee on
public order and dangerous drugs,
in February
Also set for final approval is Senate
Bill 1754 or the pr@bsed Public Ser-
vices Act, which is currently pending
Turn to Page 12

Congress r,omn"s"r
:n second reading, The bill seeks to amend
"You have seen the prob- Commonwealth Act No: of
.ems that we have encoun- 1935 to address the confusion
nred not only with telcos, with in the definition of a public
:he airlines, most especially utility and public services,
,,rater. Al1 these fall under the which will result in more
rategory of the Public S#vices choices, better services and
{ct " Sotto told report_e-Is lower prices for ihe Filipino
)ast consumet
The proposed amendments
to the Public Services Act
would address the issues on
watel, air transportation and
power, according to its au-
thors.
Sotto also expressed hope
that the Medical Scholarship
Ac! which he authored, will
be given equal priority in the
last three weeks.
The measriie is currently
oendine in the Senate commit-
tee on hialth and demography,
chaired by Sen. Joseph Victor
Ejercito.
"We have very few doc:
tors in the couniry that go
to the barrios and the rea-
son is that its, (education) is
exoensive. Now, if we made
m6dical education - both in
private and medical
schools - in thb counlry free,
we'll have more doctots,"
Sotto said.
The orooosed .Medical
Scholarskp A,ct measule seeks
to address both issues o( scar-
citv and maldistribution of
oh'vsicians in the countrv
ihr6ugh the granting of schoi-
arships to deserving medical
stud6nts provided that they
would serve the country for
five years.
Other measures expected
to be tackled include the
proposed Budget Reform
AcU Rightsizing the Nation-
al Government Act; Salary
Standardization Law; andl
Reformation of Childrcn-
in Conflict with the Liw,
which are all up for second
reading.
- Paolo Romero, Delon
Porcalla \

v rp-adr PAW "