MoNDAY / JUNE 17,2019
WV/!\T.INQUIRER.NET
leadership
showsoff performance
despite budget delays
By DJ Yap
@49919)'34!a :
The leadership of the House
of Representatives patted it-
self on the back for its pro-
ductive performance in legis-
lation in spite of sme major
political hiccups, such as the
monthslong delay in the pas-
sage of the 2019 budget dur-
ing the yearlong tenure of
oritgoing Speaker Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo.
Under Arroyo's speaker-
ship, the chamber ap,proved
9o9 measures, 25o of which be-
came laws-82 national in
scope-based on a report of
the House rules committee.
Forty-four measures .i"ere
transmitted to President Duterte
for approvat while r5 were lati-
fied by the two houses after a bi-
rcameral conference comnittee,
the report added.
This, according tothe
House leadership, amounted
to 2,505 measures processed
in 54 session days, or an aver:
age of 46 measures per ses-
sion day.
The House performance
lshowed therhard work, fotus
and determination of lawmak- open oir luly 22 under a new
ers in passing vital socioeco- leadership.
nomic measures that will ben- In her sine die adjournment
efit the present and next speech, Arroyo said she had set
generation of Filipinds,". a her principal objectives as
statement issued by Arroyo's Speaker to push for the legisla-
office read. tive agenda of President
Arroyo, whose final term as Duterte, especially the passage
Pimpanga representative will of priority bi s that were high-
end on June 30, gave her lighted in his 2018 State of the
farewells to colleasues on the Nation Addiess.
last session aav o<f tfrt lztfr
Congress onJune 4. 'Tiieless work
She lauded the House
Political wrangling ' members for their "tireless
But her stint as the leader work and dedication which re-
of the House wilt likely best be sulted in genuine milestones
remembered for her and her that will benefit Filipinos now
allies' unceremonious ouster and in the future."
of the previous Speaker, Pan- Among the new laws
taleon Alvarez, in July 2018, passed under Arroyo's watch
and the political wrangling be- are measures institutionalizing
'tween the House and the Sen- Pantawid Pamilyang
!h"
ate that delayed the enactment Pilipino Pro$am and the
of the P3.7-trillion budget law Magna Carta of the Paor.
of 2019. The House apirroved 387
The House and the Senate bills onthird and final reading,
had traded accusations about including Resolution of Both
the former's last-minute Houses No. 15 proposing the
changes to the spending bill, Revision of the 1987 Constitu-
'leading
tion and authored by Arroyo
to a standoff that last-
ed months and'set back the herself. The measure, howev-
country's economic growth, er, lacked concurrence rdith
The 18th Congress will. the Senate. INq
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