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COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER - Congressman Luis R. Villafuerte, accompanied by teacher Ms. Herminia Rojas, waves to parents, teachers and pupils upon arrival at the Mac Mariano Elementary School here in Naga City where he was graduation speaker last March 29. The Camarines Sur Second District solon was guest speaker in over a dozen other schools within his district but discussed only developmental issues and undertakings to improve the educational system. Mac Mariano Elementary School principal is Ms. Maria Shiela Lagoda. |
Congressman Luis R. Villafuerte this week said he will ask House Speaker Prospero Nograles as soon as session resumes to identify at least 20 important bills that the House of Representatives must immediately endeavor to pass and work out with the Senate for their conversion into law.
The Camarines Sur Second District solon who was among those who engineered the leadership change in the House of Representatives last February 4 said one of the main failures of the 13th Congress under former Speaker Jose de Venecia was that it passed only several bills such that it had cost the people almost P150 million to have a single bill of national importance
passed.
The inability of the House of Representatives to pass sufficient bills was due to the inefficiency, absenteeism in committee hearings and plenary sessions and lack of responsive and dynamic leadership, Congressman Villafuerte said. Former Speaker de Venecia had not drawn up any legislative agenda and had depended only on sporadic initiatives of congressmen, he also pointed out.
At the same time, Congressman Villafuerte reiterated that the highest priority in the reform agenda should be for the new Speaker to conduct proper accounting on expenditures of the House for the 13th Congress up to the end of the fiscal year 2007.
He also recommended that a manpower and organizational audit of the entire House be conducted to remove the excess fat in appropriation measures in the current budget.
Meanwhile, Congressman Villafuerte who has filed more than 130 bills and resolutions in the present 14th Congress said that he is pushing as one of his priority bills the exemption from income tax of minimum wage earners.
He said that the exemption from monthly withholding tax is mere cash flow benefit since the minimum wage earner just the same would have to pay the income tax at the end of the year.
He said he has also filed a bill enabling single parents to qualify for tax privilege given married parents.
