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THE SECOND meeting of the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting has been scheduled for Aug. 16, a Palace aide said yesterday, with new measures likely to be added to the legislative agenda.
“The second LEDAC meeting will be on the 16th, that is a Tuesday,” said Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail D. Valte in a Palace briefing.
“The agenda will be, first, updates on the common legislative agenda, second, the new bills to be proposed to the LEDAC, and third, a discussion on the Philippine Development Plan,” she added.
Ms. Valte said the economic cluster held a meeting on Wednesday that tackled new measures for inclusion in the LEDAC priority list.
“They discussed bills that will be endorsed by the cluster to make the final cut for LEDAC…,” she said, without going into details.
Sought for comment, Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad, confirmed that “five or six measures” are being considered by the economic team of which he is a member.
“Among them is the indexation of sin taxes to inflation, which is viewed not as a new tax but as a tax administration measure,” said Mr. Abad, in a text message yesterday. He added that the Cabinet has yet to decide on the final priority list.
The first LEDAC meeting on Feb. 27 identified 23 priority bills, of which three were enacted into law in the first regular session of Congress, namely the GOCC (Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations) Governance Act of 2011; rationalizing the night work prohibition on women workers, amending the Labor Code of the Philippines; and postponing elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to May 2013 from Aug. 8 this year.
A fourth Palace-backed measure, listed as “amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001,” was complied with in part when Congress extended the lifeline rate and the term of the Joint Congressional Power Commission.
A source from the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, who asked not to be named as he has not been authorized to speak for the Palace, said the administration may also include what is being referred to as the “SONA (State of the Nation Address) bills.”
President Benigno S. C. Aquino III on July 25 delivered his SONA, where he mentioned several measures, including the provision of due compensation to the victims of Martial Law, improving the pension system for retired soldiers, and granting household helpers salaries and benefits that they deserve.
At the Senate, Majority Leader Vicente C. Sotto III said that the senators are collating potential bills that will be proposed to the upcoming LEDAC meeting.
Mr. Sotto said that “each senator is given two [bills] each” to propose for inclusion.
“It is difficult to say what will be in the final list [at this point in time],” he said.
At the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker Lorenzo R. Tañada III (3rd district, Quezon) said by phone that the House leadership hopes to include the Freedom of Information bill, anti-smuggling bill,and compensation for Martial Law victims in the priority list.
When asked about the commitment of the chamber on the remaining 20 bills, he said: “Many of the LEDAC bills are pending in plenary. We hope to have them approved in the chamber before the year ends.”
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives approved on second reading House Bill 4835, or the anti-trust bill, a LEDAC priority measure. The Senate counter bill is still pending at the committee.
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By: Johanna Paola D. Poblete and Noemi M. Gonzales
Source: Business World, Aug. 11, 2011
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