Marcos' SONA to last ''45 minutes'': Romualdez
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.'s second State of the Nation Address (SONA) would be around 45 minutes long, House Speaker Martin Romualdez said Saturday.
In a press briefing, Romualdez said: “Obviously he will give an update. I heard that this will not be more than one hour long. Maybe around 45 minutes.”
“I have not seen. I have not heard what he is going to talk about,” he added.
Romualdez said the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) had identified 44 priority measures from 42, including the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA) and the bill seeking to amend the Bank Secrecy Law.
Before the Congress adjourned in June, the lower chamber had approved 33 out of the 42 priority bills of the LEDAC.
AFASA and the bill Amending Bank Secrecy Law have been approved
by the House of Representatives on third reading and were transmitted to the Senate, bringing to 35 the 44 LEDAC bills that were passed.
The 44 LEDAC measures included four bills such as the SIM Registration Act, Postponement of Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections, a bill amending the Armed Forces of the Philippines Fixed Term Bill, Agrarian Reform Debts Condonation, and the Maharlika Investment Fund and the ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the Regional Specialty Centers in Hospitals.
Other bills that were approved on final reading include the Virology Institute of the Philippines, Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act (PIFITA) (Package 4), National Disease Prevention Management Authority or Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Emergency Auxiliary Reinforcement Team (HEART) Act, New Philippine Passport Act,
Internet Transaction Act / E-Commerce Law, Waste-to-Energy Bill, Free Legal Assistance for Police and Soldiers, Apprenticeship Act, Amendment to the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) /Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Act, Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers, Valuation Reform Bill (Package 3), Eastern Visayas Development Authority (EVDA), Leyte Ecological Industrial Zone, Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery (GUIDE), Instituting a National Citizens Service Training (NCST) Program, Magna Carta of Seafarers, E-Governance Act, Negros Island Region, Rightsizing the National Government, Ease of Paying Taxes, Automatic Income Classification Act for Local Government Units, Amendment to Universal Health Care Act, Infrastructure Development Plan/Build Build Build Program, National Land Use Act, Bureau of Immigration Modernization, and Philippine Salt Industry Development Act.
He said the nine remaining bills in the lower chamber are the Natural Gas Industry Enabling Law, Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System Bill, National Employment Action Plan, Department of Water Services and Resources, amendments to the Electric Power Industry Act, Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act, Budget Modernization, National Defense Act, and Unified System of Separation, Retirement, and Pension for Uniformed Personnel.
Romualdez said Marcos plans to submit his proposed P5.268 trillion budget after he delivers his second SONA on Monday.
“When that happens, for sure, we will finish the national budget before our October break,” he told reporters.
“We average five weeks of solid work on budget deliberations, consideration, review, and approval through third reading. So we are confident with the processes and protocols and procedures that we have that we will finish the national 2024 budget. That is the most important piece of legislation,” he added.
According to Romualdez, the proposed P5.268 trillion budget aims to “aims to sustain the country’s economic growth, create more income and job opportunities for the people and improve their quality of life through the timely delivery of basic social services like education, health care, and infrastructure.” Jaspearl Tan/DMS
