Marcos administration priority bills now at 23 —PLLO chief

The Marcos Administration has added four measures in its list of priority legislations which was first laid out during the president's first State of the Nation Address.

"As of today your honor, we have 23 (priority) measures,"   Presidential Legislative Liaison Office Secretary Mark Llandro “Dong” Mendoza said at a Senate hearing when asked about the priority measures of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

The new measures added to the priority list include the 2023 General Appropriations Act, the bill strengthening the regulatory functions of Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), the bill for the condonation of unpaid amortization, interest of loans of agrarian reform beneficiaries, and the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF).

Although the MTFF is not a bill that needs to be legislated, both houses of Congress earlier adopted separate resolutions expressing support for the Marcos administration's six-year fiscal plan.

In his first SONA, Marcos asked Congress to pass 19 bills under his administration. These include:

-National Government Rightsizing Program (NGRP)
-Budget Modernization Bill
-Valuation Reform Bill
-Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act (PIFITA)
-E-Governance Act
-Internet Transaction Act or E-Commerce Law
-Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery (GUIDE)
-Medical Reserve Corps
-National Disease Prevention Management Authority
-Creation of the Virology Institute of the Philippines
-Department of Water Resources
-Unified System of Separation, Retirement and Pension
-E-Governance Act
-National Land Use Act
-National Defense Act
-Mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and National Service Training Program (NSTP)
-Enabling Law for the Natural Gas Industry
-Amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act or EPIRA (Republic Act No. 9136)
-Amendments to the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law

Senator JV Ejercito also inquired about the PLLO's plans to prevent possible veto of the bills passed by Congress.

Mendoza, in response, said they are conducting inter-agency consultative meetings to "fine tune" the measures that were enumerated by Marcos in his SONA.

"I think we already had around five consultative meetings with different agencies with regard to the SONA measures...So far sir, nafa-fine tune na po natin...para pagdating po dito sa both chambers--sa Senate and sa Lower House, fine-tuned na po siya...Naalis na po namin yung mga contentious issues with the departments," Mendoza said.

The Senate panel approved the PLLO's budget proposal for 2023.

Apart from the PLLO, the Senate finance subcommittee also approved the proposed P193 million budget of Philippine Racing Commission and the proposed P191.26 million budget of the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan for 2023.—LDF, GMA News