MARCH 6, 2012 DATE

NR # 2670C
REF. NO.

House approves 72 national and local bills and joint resolutions

The House of Representatives on Monday approved on final reading 21 national bills, 40 local measures and four House Joint Resolutions. It likewise passed on second reading seven other national bills. This proves that House members are fully focused on their legislative duties. Credit goes to the collective leadership and the members of the majority as well as to the critical cooperation of the Minority. We continue to work silently but consistently, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. said. Yesterday, the House adopted House Resolution 218 commending Undersecretary Fortunato Dela Pena of the Department of Science and Technology for having been elected as the new Chairman of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (UNCSTD). The House also gave the green light to the reconsideration of the approval on 2 reading of HB 5298, providing for the disclosure of lobbying activities in the Philippine or the Lobbying Disclosure Act.
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Before the chamber adjourned at 6:25 pm Monday, the House passed on 3rd reading, among others, the following: HB 709 or the Anti-Cable Television and Cable Internet Pilferage Act; HB 5620 Exempting from the population and land area requirements the conversion of a municipality into a component city if it has a locally generated average annual income of at least P200-million; HB 5640 Regulating the practice of Geology in the Philippines; HB 3005 Declaring December of every year as Anti-Corruption Month in the entire country; HB3962- Amending RA 6949, An Act to declare March 8 as a working holiday, to make it a non-working holiday; HB 5681 Amending Secs. 10, 11, 22 and 24 of RA 776, otherwise known as The Civil Aeronautics Act as amended; HB5682 Further amending PD 1869, as amended by RA 9487, otherwise known as the PAGCOR CHARTER. The other national measures propose to create 39 branches of the Regional Trial Courts spread across Negros Occidental, Agusan del Sur, Iloilo, General Santos City, Samar, Cebu, Cavite, Lapu-Lapu City and Lanao del Norte. Seven RTC branches in Taguig City are also to be converted into the RTC of Taguig. Also approved on final reading was the creation of 21 more Municipal Trial Court branches in Kidapawan City (Cotabato) Lapu-Lapu City, Taguig, Las Pias City, and Cavite, among others.

MARCH 6, 2012 DATE

NR # 2670C
REF. NO.

The House also adopted four House Joint Resolutions HJR 8 Extending the tenure of the Congressional Oversight Committee on the Optical Media Board until June 30, 2013; HJR 22 Declaring August 31, 2012 to August 30, 2013 as the Centennial Year of National Artist for Architecture, Design and Allied Arts, Ramon Valera; HJR 25 Declaring May 1, 2012 to April 30, 2013 as the Centennial Year of National Artist for Music, Felipe Padilla De Leon; and HJR 26 Declaring November 4, 2012 to November 3, 2013 as the Centennial Year of National Artist for Painting, Carlos Botong Francisco. Approved on 2nd reading were the following: HB 5567 Mandating the designation of a Cooperative Officer in the Local Government Unit; HB 5666 Strengthening the Cebu Port Authority, amending thereof certain provisions of RA 7621, otherwise known as the Charter of the Cebu Port Authority; HB 98 Defining and Penalizing Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance; HB 5715 Providing for the Protection, Security and Benefits of Whistleblowers; HB 5851 Regulating the Practice of Metallurgical Engineering; HB 5868 Upholding the Constitutional Right of the People to Information on Matters of Public Concern on Food included in the list of basic necessities or prime commodities to guarantee the right of the people to affordable and adequate food supply; and HB 5870 Authorizing the Land Management Bureau to conduct a survey of Cadastral lots in the entire country. (30) dpt