President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. | Inquirer file photo
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has approved 11 additional bills on public health, job creation, and economic growth, including the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) as part of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac), House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said on Sunday.
“President Marcos approved 11 bills designed to address key issues on public health, job creation, and further stimulate economic growth as part of his administration’s priority legislation. These measures will be the focus of our legislative efforts when Congress resumes session this Monday,” Romualdez said in a statement.
With these new bills, Romualdez said that the total number of priority measures under Marcos administration is now 42 from the original 31.
The additional 11 bills include “Amending the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) Fixed Term Bill, which was transmitted to the President; Ease of Paying Taxes; Maharlika Investment Fund; Local Government Unit Income Classification; Amendment to Universal Health Care Act, which were already sent to the Senate.”
The other six bills are “The Bureau of Immigration Modernization; Infrastructure Development Plan/Build Build Build Program, which is now for committee report preparation; Philippine Salt Industry Development Act; Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System (PENCAS); National Employment Action Plan; and Amendment to the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act, which is under committee/technical working group (TWG) meeting.”
Out of the original 31 bills, the House of Representatives has already approved 23. According to Romualdez, the leadership aims to approve the remaining eight bills of Ledac before Congress adjourns the session on June 2.
“It will be on a best-effort basis. We will try to pass the remaining eight bills from the original priority list. If we could do that, we would have approved all the urgent measures identified by President Marcos in less than a year,” Romualdez said.
“These proposed pieces of legislation support the President’s Agenda for Prosperity and his eight-point socio-economic roadmap. They are intended to sustain our economic growth, hasten the country’s digital transformation and speed up the delivery of public services to our people, among other objectives,” he added.
RELATED STORIES
Marcos backs Maharlika fund: ‘We need added investment’
Let technocrats run Maharlika wealth fund to avert politics – Sandro Marcos
11 Cebu lawmakers back bill creating Maharlika Investment Fund