Charter change not among House priorities—Belmonte

MANILA, Philippines—For now, Charter change is not among the priorities of the House of Representatives, saying it needs ample time to be debated in plenary, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said Thursday.

Belmonte said the chamber will focus on “doable” bills, including the Reproductive Health bill and the Freedom of Information bill, which will be sent Malacañang for the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council meeting.

At the same time, he expressed preference for the convening of Congress into a constituent assembly to amend the 1987 Constitution, saying the mode is less expensive and has greater control over what needs to be changed in the Charter.

“Cha cha (Charter change) is not something that we can do quickly. We have a permanent committee on constitutional amendment . . . at some point, we can tackle cha cha,” Belmonte said in a news conference.

The House leader said that the chamber will focus for now on “doable” bills that have chances of passage until March this year, when Congress takes a break. He said that some of the bills could be fast tracked and brought to plenary for debates, especially those that have been approved at the committee level in the last Congress.

The bills identified by the House for passage until March are: Amending the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act; Institutionalization of a National Land Use Policy; Amendment of the Revised Investment Company Act; Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives bill; Anti-Trust Act (Competition Policy); Fiscal Responsibility Act; Amendment to the National Defense Act; Protection of the Whistle Blowers Act; Procurement Law Amendments; Amendment to the Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education; Institutionalization of a12-year Basic Education System;

Provision of Mandatory Health Coverage; Institutionalization of the Conditional Cash Transfer of the Government; Amendment of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas charter; Amendment of the Anti-Money Laundering Law; Strengthening of the Anti-Smuggling Provisions in the Tariff and Customs Code; Modernization of the Bureau of Customs; Promotion of Public Private Partnership in Infrastructure Development/Build-Operate-Transfer Amendments; Review of the Implementation of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act to amend the EPIRA law; Adoption of a Pocket Open Skies Policy;

Amendment to the Charters of the Philippine Ports Authority and the Maritime Authority; Anti-Cybercrime Act; Reforming the Land Administration System; Institutionalization of a Ladderized Education Program; Amendment to the Fair and Equitable Access to Education Act; Establishment of a Special Education Center for Each School Division for Children with Special Needs; Establishment of a National Student Loan Program; Re-engineering of the Bureaucracy; Amendment to the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006; creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology; Customs and Tariff Modernization Act; and the Immigration Act.

Belmonte said the House will prepare a separate list of priority measures it will submit to Malacañang, the Reproductive Health bill and the Freedom of Information bill. –Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, INQUIRER.net