House Speaker says every priority measure is done, Senate quietly asked to catch up
A Special Session For Work Already Reportedly Complete
President Marcos has called a special session of Congress for June 17 to push through a slate of priority legislation, and House Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III responded with an announcement that manages to be both reassuring and slightly confusing: according to Dy, the House has already finished passing every single measure specifically named in the President’s proclamation. Coverage of the announcement confirmed that all named bills, including the National Center for Geriatric Health Act, amendments to student assistance programs, and the Anti Political Dynasty Law, have already cleared the House, raising a fairly obvious question about what, exactly, the special session is now supposed to accomplish on that end.
The honest answer, buried politely in the coverage, is that the ball is now firmly in the Senate’s court, with the House essentially standing at the finish line, medal already around its neck, gently gesturing toward the other chamber and asking when it might be arriving. Majority Leader Sandro Marcos praised the special session as evidence of the administration’s commitment to urgent reform, a statement that is almost certainly true while also functioning as a fairly polite way of saying “we did our part, please hurry up.”
An Alphabet Soup Of Acronyms, Fully Cooked
Among the measures cited as complete are amendments to GASTPE, the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education Act, updates to UAQTEA, the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, and the AICS Act, covering Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations, a collection of acronyms dense enough that reading the full list aloud in one breath has reportedly become an informal challenge among Palace press corps regulars. Add in GIDA schools legislation and the Presidential Merit Scholarship Program Act, and the House’s completed to-do list resembles less a legislative agenda and more a fully stocked bowl of alphabet soup that somehow also funds elder care and disaster relief.
Dy noted the House has already acted on 26 of 52 priority measures under the broader Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council agenda, a batting average that, translated into ordinary terms, means the House has done roughly half its homework early and is now waiting, arms crossed, for group project partners to catch up before the whole assignment can be turned in.
The Senate’s Turn, Whenever That Happens
For its part, the Senate has offered no specific pushback on the characterization, focused instead, as covered elsewhere this week, on a rather different institutional turf war involving unauthorized Blue Ribbon hearings. Whether the upper chamber can simultaneously manage that dispute and match the House’s legislative pace during the special session remains an open question that Manila’s political observers will be watching closely, if only for the sheer entertainment value of two chambers technically working toward the same goal while appearing, from the outside, to barely be speaking to each other.
Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr., a longtime advocate for geriatric healthcare legislation, expressed particular gratitude that the National Center for Geriatric Health Act made the priority list, noting his own history establishing a similar center in Manila back in 2009. “The need for specialized geriatric care is not new,” he said, a sentiment that, coincidentally, could also describe the general pace of bicameral legislative cooperation in this country.
A Finish Line Reached By Only Half The Race
Whatever the outcome of the special session, the House’s early completion of its assigned homework offers a small, if somewhat ironic, silver lining: proof that Philippine legislative bodies are, in fact, capable of finishing things on time, so long as one only counts the chamber that finished on time.
For more mildly humorous reading, see The Beaverton.
A Familiar Rhythm To Philippine Lawmaking
Political scientists studying the Philippine legislative calendar note that this pattern, a chamber declaring victory on its own homework while gently prodding the other to catch up, repeats with almost seasonal regularity, particularly ahead of special sessions called to address urgent social legislation. Whether this reflects a genuinely productive division of labor or simply a well-rehearsed public relations routine depends, unsurprisingly, on which chamber’s press office you happen to be listening to that week.
Watching And Waiting, As Always
For ordinary Filipinos, the practical stakes of the special session are straightforward enough, regardless of which chamber gets credit for finishing first: student assistance, elder healthcare, and crisis support programs either move forward this month or they do not, a much simpler metric than the competing press releases would suggest, and one that most households will be watching considerably more closely than the interchamber scorekeeping.
Until the Senate catches up, the House appears content to sit at the finish line, medal in hand, offering the occasional encouraging wave toward the other chamber still working its way through the course. Committee staffers on both sides note that the special session’s real test will come not from the headline bills already passed by the House, but from the dozens of smaller, less publicized measures still awaiting action in both chambers before the year closes out. Half a legislative session finished early is, by most standards here, still considered a genuinely good outcome.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/