Velasco assures Duterte of House commitment to push laws for country's recovery

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco on Tuesday said the House of Representatives is committed to supporting the Duterte administration in terms of pushing for legislations that will help the country recover from the pandemic.

"In the final stretch of the Duterte presidency, the House of Representatives of the 18th Congress is committed to pursue the remaining measures in the President’s legislative agenda, with focus on strengthening the country’s health care system and restoring jobs lost to the pandemic," Velasco said in a statement a day after President Rodrigo Duterte's last State of the Nation Address.

"This is a must and we must heed the call of the President in order to bring back normalcy in the lives of our countrymen and help our economy recover and flourish again following a severe beating from the global health crisis," he added.

According to Velasco, the government should not only ensure that the economy is ready to reopen, but the people should be prepared for its reopening.

"We must help our people feel confident that they will have jobs and livelihood opportunities, and assured that cure and proper health care will always be available when they need it," Velasco said.

Velasco, meanwhile, hailed Duterte for his SONA as the latter was humble enough to admit that there are things that his administration needs to accomplish in the next 12 months despite his remarkable achievements in the last five years.

Earlier, the House leader expressed confidence that the remaining priority bills of the Duterte administration would be passed into law before the year ends.

Velasco said the five priority bills, earlier identified by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), include the proposed Philippine Virology Institute Act, Center for Disease Control Act, Amendments to the Continuing Professional Development Act of 2016, Bureau of Immigration Modernization Act, and National Housing Development Act.—AOL, GMA News