SENATE President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Monday called on his colleagues to pass bills creating the Center for Disease Control, Virology Institute of the Philippines, and the Medical Reserve Corps for the people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, among other vital measures.
Zubiri gave assurance however, that the Senate which will remain independent and that the proposed laws they would be crafting are not upon the behest of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., but by the people.
“Never must we be caught flatfooted again,” Zubiri said as he led the opening of the Second Regular Session of the 19th Congress.
“To farmers who feed other people but cannot feed their own, let us pass a stronger anti-agricultural smuggling law,” he added.
In this way, according to him, the flood of imports will not drown the crops the farmers grow.
He also batted for the passage of the Ease of Paying Taxes Bill so that taxpayers burdened by complicated tax rules formulated by “men who can change them at will.”
He also cited the need to pass the Waste-to-Energy Bill so that “trash can power the very homes where it came from.”
“To seafarers battling the elements, loneliness, unsafe working conditions, let us pass a Magna Carta that will serve like a safe harbor that will protect them,” Zubiri said.
“To people looking for jobs, let the National Employment Action Plan be the guide towards gainful employment in which fair work is rewarded with fair pay,” he added.
“To those who toil in starvation wages, let us put ourselves in their shoes, provide relief to their families, and pass the long-awaited across-the-board legislative wage hike.”
He also proposed an end to bureaucratic red tape for the benefit of citizens to which the internet is a boon.
Like an app, E-Governance Act is in need of an update, the Senate leader noted.
“To consumers who source goods online, let us firewall them against scams which the Internet Transactions Act will put up. Let us debug this commerce platform of its budol virus,” he stressed.
“To a country whose sovereignty has been disrespected, we will pass a bill that will modernize our defenses,” Zubiri said.
According to him, there are still many laws that the Senate needs to debate on and need to pass.
“And how do we measure the value of our labors, and the common good of our policies that we have created?” he asked.