Drilon wants 'more active' PLLO to avoid vetoed bills, faulty IRRs

Published September 15, 2020 01:33 PM By DONA MAGSINO,GMA News

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Tuesday said the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) should improve on fulfilling its mandate of facilitating coordination between the executive and legislative branch to avoid vetoed bills and implementing rules and regulations (IRR) that are incongruent to new laws.

"A better coordination, a more active PLLO can save us time and effort by already pointing out which part of the law we're working on is contrary to the policies of the President and makes the proposed law subject to veto," Drilon said during a budget hearing in the Senate.

He said the vetoed coco levy bill

last year is a "classic example" of the alleged shortcoming of the PLLO to effectively help in ironing out provisions that would likely be frowned upon by the executive branch.

Drilon said it was "embarrassing" that the Congress approved and transmitted the bill to the President only to be referred back to the bicam and submitted again but still vetoed in the end.

"If proper communication and liasoning, and coordination is made, then it should not have happened," he said.

PLLO Secretary Adelino Sitoy, on the other hand, said the body tried its best to relay relevant pieces of advice to Senator Cynthia Villar, the proponent of the coco levy bill.

"During our meeting with Senator Villar, we articulated to her the position of some members of the Cabinet cluster but her immediate response was, 'Veto the bill.' That was her reaction," he said in response.

"At the very least, we tried our efforts, we tried our best to iron out the details but ultimately the executive department vetoed the bill," he added.

Villar was not present during the budget hearing but she is again sponsoring the updated coco levy bill in the Senate plenary. The proposed measure, which seeks to create a P100-billion trust fund for the benefit of some 3.5 million coconut farmers, is still in the period of interpellation.

Further, Drilon also reminded PLLO that it has to closely monitor the crafting of the IRRs.

"The senators complain that there are instances when the IRR is contrary to the reason behind the law and there are instances when the law is not being implemented because of the lack of the IRR," Drilon said.

Sitoy vowed that the PLLO will coordinate with concerned agencies for the crafting of IRRs.

"Unfortunately when the IRRs are being ironed out or formulated, we are not being notified and we are not involved in the process but this time we will insist on being notified," he said.

Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, during the same hearing, underscored that budget is not a factor behind the underperformance of the PLLO.

"Sa 2020 budget nila, as of last quarter, 42.4% pa 'yung unobligated so hindi pa natin masasabing kulang sila sa budget," Dela Rosa said.

Around P13 million of the PLLO budget has also been realigned for COVID-19 response, according to the agency.

For 2021, the PLLO is asking for P110 million, slightly higher than the P95.6 million it received this year. —KG, GMA News

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