01-07-2025
House: Almost 700 proposed bills filed on Day 1 of 20th Congress
Nearly 700 bills were filed on the first day of the 20th Congress at the House of Representatives.
In a statement, the House said that 683 measures were filed on Monday, June 30. Of this number 666 were House bills, 16 were House Resolutions (expressing the sense of the House) and one Joint Resolution.
The first bill filed on record, filed by Leyte Representative and expected 20th Congress House Speaker Martin Romualdez, was the House Bill 1 or the Rice Industry and Consumer Empowerment (RICE) Act which grants the National Food Authority (NFA) additional regulatory powers aimed at lowering rice prices and protecting farmers.
Other bills filed by Romualdez during Day 1 were:
Bill exempting Overseas Filipino Workers' (OFWs) from paying premium contributions to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth)
Bill establishing the Philippine Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC)
Bill updating the system on providing private school educational assistance and creation of Eastern Visayas Development Authority.
Romualdez co-authored all the abovementioned bills numbered House Bills 1 to 5 with Tingog Party-list Representatives Jude Acidre and Andrew Julian Romualdez, who is Romualdez's son.
Neophyte Valenzuela City Representative Gerald Cloyd Alexis Galang, meanwhile, filed seven bills on Monday, including Magna Carta for Senior Citizens, Social Pension of Senior Citizens Act and bill seeking to amend the Sangguniang Kabataan Reform Act of 2015.
Another neophyte lawmaker, Kabataan party-list Representative and lawyer Renee Co and comebacking Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers party-list also filed the Delivery of Accessible Services in Universities (DASURV) bill, which seeks to provide housing, health, and food assistance to public school students. —VAL, GMA Integrated News
"The DASURV Bill is our answer to the continuing financial barriers that prevent Filipino youth from accessing quality higher education. Hindi pa rin totoo ang free education kung marami pang kailangang bayaran ng mga estudyante at kanilang mga pamilya," Co said.
In addition, Tinio and Co also refiled the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, or Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) Equality measure, which seeks to prohibit discrimination among the members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA) community.
"For too long, the SOGIESC Equality Bill has been delayed despite overwhelming public support. Hindi na dapat maghintay pa ang LGBTQIA+ community para sa equal protection under the law," Co added. —VAL, GMA Integrated News
