Koko tells Alvarez: Focus on quality of laws passed, not quantity

Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Wednesday reminded Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez that legislative performance should not be based on the quantity of laws passed, but quality.

In an interview on ANC, Alvarez reiterated his criticism on the Senate, calling it “mabagal na kapulungan” or slow chamber.

Reacting to the House leader’s remark, Pimentel said “the Senate is the ‘nag-aaral na kapulungan’.”

In a separate text message, Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said the Senate acts "slow but sure."

"May kasabihan: 'Ang tumatakbo ng matulin, 'pag natinik ay malalim,'" Sotto added.

The Senate President explained that the House is expected to pass more bills because measures that are local in nature emanates from the lower chamber.

“All bills renaming and or merging schools, increasing hospital beds, etc., must and do come from the House. But we must all change our mindset—from quantity to ‘quality,’” Pimentel said.

“Let us not judge lawmaking in terms of number of laws passed but in terms of how the laws we pass improve the quality of life on Earth in general, and the quality of life of Filipinos in particular,” he added.

“Again I say: change mindset. Quality, not quantity,” Pimentel stressed.

According to the data of the Legislative Bills and Index Service as of December 13, there were 1,636 bills filed at the Senate, only nine of which were enacted into law. Their list, however, does not include yet the 2018 budget and the first package of the tax reform program signed by the President last December 19.

Of the number, 365 bills were acted upon by the Senate, 67 are pending for second reading approval, while 1,262 are pending before the respective committees.

Some 575 Senate resolutions have also been filed both in the first and second regular sessions of the present 17th Congress.

Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas earlier reported that congressmen filed a total of 8,528 bills since the 17th Congress opened in July 2016, with the figure representing 6,911 House Bills and 1,617 House Resolutions.

Fariñas said the House was able to process a total of 2,100 measures of the total bills filed. —KG, GMA News