Eight of the 19 legislative priority measures enumerated by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday are eligible for swift approval under Rule 10, Section 48 of the House of Representatives, Speaker Martin G. Romualdez said Wednesday.
Romualdez said the House would “also work on the immediate approval of other SONA measures the soonest time possible in order to make President Marcos’ vision of a better nation a reality.”
In a related move, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said nearly seven out of 10 Filipinos surveyed are in favor of the return of the mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program in schools, which the President underscored in his SONA.
Gatchalian cited the results of the latest Pulse Asia survey that 69% of Filipinos agree with the proposal to reinstate the ROTC program in senior high school.
Romualdez said House Rule 10, Section 48 authorizes the committees to dispose of priority measures already filed and approved on third reading in the immediately preceding Congress.
“We have the internal mechanism for an expeditious approval process that is enshrined in Rule 10, Section 48 of the House rules of procedure,” Romualdez said.
The eight Marcos-endorsed measures whose passage could be hastened through the rule are the Valuation Reform Bill, PIFITA, E-Governance Act, Internet Transaction Act, GUIDE, Medical Reserve Corps, National Disease Prevention Management Authority, and Virology Institute of the Philippines.
Of these eight measures, five are covered by bills authored by Romualdez — GUIDE (House Bill 1), Medical Reserve Corps (HB 2), Internet Transaction Act (HB 4), National Disease Prevention Management Authority (HB 9), and Virology Institute of the Philippines (HB 10).
The passage of these eight measures could be expedited since these had been approved on third and final reading by the House and transmitted to the Senate during the three-year life of the 18th Congress under President Rodrigo Duterte.
Romualdez said the use of this rule would greatly hasten consideration and endorsement by any committee of any covered bill and its eventual plenary approval.
“We are in full support of the President’s entire legislative agenda, including the key priority proposals for legislation he has asked Congress to consider. We will act on these with dispatch,” the Speaker said.
Of the 19 SONA measures, Romualdez has also filed 12 counterpart bills, which are among the first 25 legislative proposals he has submitted to the House.
The others he filed bills for are the E-Governance Act (HB 3), Unified pension system (HB 7), National Defense Act (HB 11), National Government Rightsizing Program (HB 12), Enabling Law for the Natural Gas Industry (HB 17), the bill on budget modernization (HB 19), and Department of Water Resources (HB 21).
“We will give these and all the other SONA measures utmost priority,” Romualdez said.
He said President Marcos “clearly spelled out a roadmap of governance in his six years of office” in Monday’s address to the nation.
“His message was crystal-clear: the main focus of his administration will be an economic recovery, with agriculture as the major engine for growth and employment,” Romualdez added.
The Speaker pointed out that the prospect of economic recovery looks bright with the President’s plan to implement tax administration reforms and sound fiscal management and prioritize government spending that would immediately address the economic scarring caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“President Marcos was spot on in identifying the major cause of low production in agriculture and high prices of agricultural goods, which is the high cost of inputs. The House of Representatives is committed to helping him bring down the cost of farm inputs, including fertilizers, pesticides, and seeds,” he added.
Meanwhile, Gatchalian noted that more than 70 percent of the Pulse Asia respondents in the National Capital Region (71%) and the Visayas (78%) support mandatory ROTC in senior high school, while more than 60% in Balance Luzon (67%) and Mindanao (64%) also say they support the proposal.
Among socioeconomic groups, support for mandatory ROTC is stronger in Classes ABC (71%) and D (71%) compared to Class E (54%).
The survey, which Gatchalian commissioned, had 1,200 respondents.
In his SONA, President Marcos included the ROTC Program in his 19-point priority agenda. This is also one of Gatchalian’s priority measures for the 19th Congress.
Gatchalian’s proposed Senate Bill No. 387 seeks the institutionalization and administration of the Basic ROTC program for students enrolled in Grades 11 and 12. This will include basic military training to motivate, train, organize and utilize students for national defense preparedness or civil-military operations.
However, the bill provides that no student below the age of 18 shall take direct part in hostilities. The senator filed a similar bill in the 18th Congress.
The program also includes civic training and preparedness during actual disaster response operations. This will enhance the capacity of the nation to produce the needed manpower and to expand its human resources in times of war, calamities and disasters, and emergencies, and in support of the law-enforcement strategy of the government against crimes by creating a pool of trained reservists.
A student who has completed the Basic ROTC program shall be registered in the Reserve Force upon reaching the legal age.
Students who fail to undergo the mandatory Basic ROTC program will not be qualified for graduation.
Exemptions, however, may be given to students who are certified psychologically and physically unfit by the Armed Forces of the Philippines Surgeon General, have undergone or are undergoing similar military training, and those who are chosen as varsity players in sports competitions.