Duterte to convene LEDAC regularly, says legislative liaison

The Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council will be convened regularly under the Duterte administration, the presidential legislative liaison officer said on Thursday.

Secretary Adelino Sitoy told reporters that President Rodrigo Duterte and the executive branch plan to meet members of Congress in the LEDAC every two months.

"I called the attention of the President about the membership of the LEDAC. The LEDAC before was convened only two times during the presidency of President Aquino. And so, this time, we intend to meet regularly," Sitoy said.

President Benigno Aquino III vetoed a number of popular bills during his administration.

These include the P2,000-pension hike for retirees under the the Social Security System.

Observers believe the bills would not have been vetoed if the leaders of the executive and legislative branches met in the LEDAC.

Sitoy said that LEDAC will have 20 members with Duterte as the chairman and Vice President Leni Robredo as the vice chairman.

Other members will be Senate President Koko Pimentel and House Speaker Bebot Alvarez.

Seven members of the Cabinet will also be part of the LEDAC.

"And additionally, there are three members of the Senate aside from the Senate President and they have been nominated already," Sitoy said.

"They are Sen. Franklin Drilon, Sen. Vicente Sotto III, Sen. Ralph Recto and the three members of the House aside from the Speaker, are Cong. Rodolfo Fariñas, Cong. Danilo Suarez, Cong. Dakila Carlo Cua," he added.

There will also be a representative from the local government units, the youth sector, and the private sector.

Death penalty and federalism

According to notes sent by Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar to reporters, the imposition of the death penalty and the shift to a federal form of government were not among the priority legislation discussed at the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

However, Sitoy clarified that they remained priorities of the administration.

"First, with respect to federalism, that is included in the—no, the commitments included in the SONA are already also prioritized although, in terms of—in the order of priority, what were mentioned by the Executive Secretary were given attention first but under the SONA, Good Governance, Federalism is included," Sitoy said.

"The death penalty is included under Security, Justice and Peace, with reference to anti-terrorism," he added.

Duterte in his speeches before and after the elections repeatedly aired the need to revive the death penalty for heinous crimes and to shift to a federal form of government to develop rural areas. —NB, GMA News