JULY 20, 2011 DATE

NR # 2471B
REF. NO.

Belmonte Bares 23 Additional Priority Policy Reform Measures

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. today disclosed an additional list of 23 priority measures for the 2nd regular session that cover areas of good governance, agriculture, human rights, cultural communities, land administration and ecology, education and anti-terror policies. We will hit the ground prepared when Congress opens its 2nd regular session following the Presidents State of the Nation Address on July 25, he assured. The Speaker clarified that the said additional list of proposed policy reforms -- many of which are in their advanced stages -- excludes the original 23 LEDAC pinpointed priorities of the President and some 84 priority legislation identified by the House leadership. The House will not lose sight of the remaining LEDAC/Presidents priorities mentioned during the first SONA. In fact, many of them would soon be calendared for plenary consideration, Belmonte assured. Of the 23 LEDAC measures, four bills and one joint resolution were already signed into law by the President. Of the 84 original House priorities, 15 have been approved on 3 rd reading and are now awaiting Senate action. The additional priorities include: 1) Terrorist Financing Suppression Act of 2010; 2) Amendments to the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002; 3) Reorganizing the Philippine Statistical System; 4) Strengthening the Animal Industry and Veterinary Quarantine Services; 5) Providing for the Modernization of PAG-ASA; 6) Providing for a Maritime Code of the Philippines; 7) Eliminating Gender Bias on Adultery and Concubinage Act; 8) Amending RA 7877, Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995; 9) Womens Higher Education Act; 10) Providing for a Nationwide Scholarship Program for Indigenous Peoples; 11) Expanding the coverage of the Science and Technology Scholarship Program; 12) Extending the life of the Land Bank of the Philippines; 13) Land Management Bureau Survey of Cadastral Lots in the entire Country; 14) Providing for the delineation of the specific Forest limits of the Public Domain; 15) Banning Asbestos and Asbestos-containing products; 16) Establishing Number Portability for Mobile Telephone Service; 17) Regulating the placement of billboards; 18) Telecommunications Accessibility Act; 19) Anti-Prostitution Act 2011; 20) Prohibiting the use of the words Muslim and Christian in Mass Media; 21) Debts-for-MDGs Swap; 22) Creating a Center for Studies on Indigenous Cultural Communities; and 23) Filipino Volunteerism in National-Building Act. From the original LEDAC/Presidents honor list, the following, among others, have been approved by the Committees to which they were referred to: 1) Establishing the Archipelagic Sea Lanes, prescribing rights of foreign ships; 2) Providing a definite targeting strategy in identifying the poor (amend RA 7875)/Provide mandatory Heathcare Coverage; 3) Amending the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act; 4) Whistle Blowers Protection Act; and 5) National Land Use and Management Act of the Philippines. The creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the measure instituting a Land Administration Reform Act are both pending with the Committee on Appropriations for its comments on their respective funding provisions. (30) dpt