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House processed 2,505 bills

u nder Arroyo's leadersh i p
BY GLEE JALEA
EHouse of Representatives under
the leadership of outgoing Speaker
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo closed
the 17th Congress with a total of 2,505
measures in over 54 session days that
gave priority to the legislative agenda of
President Rodrigo Duterte.
Republic Act (RA) 11223 or
the 'Universal Health Care Bill"
based on House Bill (HB) 5784,
R{ 1105 or the "Organic Iaw for
the Bangsamoro Autonomous
Region" based on HB 6745, and
R{ i1203 or the 'Act Liberalizing
the Importation, Exportation and
Trading of Rice" were among the
pdority measures earlier enumer-
ated by the President in his State
of the Nation Address before they
were enacted.
repoft ofthe House
Based on a
Committee on Rules, since the
opening of the third regular ses-
sion on fuly 23, 2018 unril the
srae dle adjoumment on June 4,
2019, the chamber approved a to-
tal of909 measures, 250 ofwhich
became laws.
Of the 250 new laws, 82 were
national bills, while there werc 166
local bills and two joint resolutions.
Among the more recently en-
acted were RA U321 or the 'Act
Institutionalizing the Pantawid
Pamilyang Pilipino Program"
based on HB 7773, RA 11291 ot
the "Act Providing for a Magna
Cana of the Poor" based on HB
581, and RA 11285 orthe "Energy
Efficiency and Conseffation Act"
based on HB 8629.
ln 54 session days, the llouse
processed an average of 46 mea-
sures per day.
-A4os(pf the 251 approved lo-
cal bills that were transmitted to
the President soughL io increase
the bed capacity of different pro-
vincial hospitals in the country
and upgrade their services and
facilities and beef up their medical
personnel.
Other local bills, on the other
hand, proposed the conversion of
state colleges into state unive$ities.
The House also approved on
final reading the Resolution of
Both Houses 15: "Resolution of
Both Houses Prcposing the Revi-
sion of the 1987 Constitution of
the Republic of the Philippines,"
authored by Anoyo hersell
The draft Constitution, how-
ever, failed to hurdle Congress
because of its pending approval
before the Senate.
Other major measures such as
HB 9156 or the "Comprehensive
Renal Replacement Therapy Act'
for indigent patients and HB 8858,
which lowen the minimum age of
criminal responsibility to 12 yean
old, also got a House nod, but failed
to get an approval ftom the Senate
HB 4349, or the bill that seela
to renew the franchise of ABS-
CBN Corp. for another 25 years,
still
was among the bills that were
pending at the committee level
since 2016.
The committee on legislative
franchises did not take action on
the measure until the adiourn-
ment ofthe session,
In her farewell speech, Anoyo
urged her fellow House members
to continue helping Duterte in
"hawesting the fruits of the seeds
planted" under his term.
She is set to retire ftom public
service on June 30 and will work as
Pampanga provincial government
consultant.

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