PHILIPPINE STAR
MONDAY I JULY 1,2019 neuts
Lowmakers start
filingbills today
fo, 18th Congress
By PAoiO ROMERO
Lawmakers from the Senate and the
House of Representatives are expected to
start filing their bills today ahead of the
opening of ihe.18ih Congress on July 22.
The staff of senators and congressmen
line up at the bills and index offices as
early as dawn to ensure that their principals
would have the distinction of having their
measures among the first to be filed.l
In the Senate, however, the Senate
president and the rest of the chamber's
leadership would be the first to file their
respective bills.
they woutd be followed by the come-
backing legislators, followed by senators
elected in 20it then those assuming office
in 2016, and neophyte senators would be
the last to file their bills.
Sen. Sorury Angara said ihe fiJ ing of bills
wouJd provide President Dutertre "with a
deep pool ofmeasures he can support and
ask Congress to immediately pass when
he delivers the State of the Nation Address
{ater this month."
Angara urged Malacaiang to choose
i.^r'hat Senate rrrorrosals to officiallv back
"so we can stirt tfie legislative year'with a
common agenda."
He said "poliq'rnaking has always been I
a two-wav street. with bills emanatine from
both the executive branch and the tEgista-
ture, and these branches improving on each
other's proposals.'
"Le(s begin with the easy ones, the so-
called low-hanging fruits, while we subject
complicated m'easures to morc shrdy, debate
and impmvement " he added.
Anea-Ta said while he will have "a bill
for evirv sector," he will concentrate on
measurds that wili boost social Proiection,
improve access to and quality ofeducatioru
better health care, guar-antee food securiry
and create economic and iob opportunities'
"Some o{ these are legacy measures, a
continuation of what mf fa'ther initiated
in his four terms in the llenate. These are
the 'Alagang Angara' laws," he said in a
statement.
Among the fhst bills Angara will file to-
aav is thelpsrading of thelalary grade of
rl",'ulic schooiieacheis ftom 11 to t9, "which
iibes with what the President has promised
io our teachers."
"We have increased the PaY o{ our
soldiers and policemen. lt is time to do the
sarne to our iublic teaching corps who are
fiehbnz th" *at ugairst illiieracy," he said'
"Aro"ther bill heiaid he would file grants
discounts on books. health care, school
suoplies, and somq school {ees to poor stu-
aehL in all schoot tevelg including those in
technical-vocational institutions.
He will also push for the doubting of the
social oension o{ destitute senior citizens
- rroln'p'O.OOO to p12,000 a vear, as well as two
more biil s, one for Fili pino seafarers, and rhe
other for baranqay workers
Opposition-S6n. Francis Pangilinan is
expectdd to file today 10 priority measures
foiusing on agriculnrre, environment and
civil service.
"
These include the much-delayed Coco-
nut Farrners and lndustry Developmmt Act
;
or the Coco Lew Ac! bills on post-harvest
facilities, orgaric farm ing and erpanded
croo irsu-raice; National Land Use Act of
201'9; establishment o{ the Deparfinent of
Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and the
DeDartment o{ Disaster and Emergency
.
ManagemenU Rainwater Management BilJ;
SineleiUse Plastic ReHulation and Manage-
meXt Act; and the Basf c Education Teachers
Pav lncrease Act.
'-We will continue the 6ght we started
even before the 17th Congress. We believe
that Drioritizine tle agriculture sector'and
itt.t"usins the ;comei of farmers and fish-
erfolk woluld help in alleviating poverty and
bolsterjns the eionomy in rural areas To
support tiis endeavor' we must alsopursue
relLi,ant legrslation for the envitonment,"
Pangilinan said in a statement.
Y%gro^gn