Only 2 of 53 Marcos priority bills enacted a year into 20th Congress

The Marcos administration’s legislative agenda has seen limited progress nearly a year into the 20th Congress, with only two of the 53 priority bills endorsed by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) enacted into law.

In March, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. signed into law Republic Act (RA) No. 12317, resetting the inaugural Bangsamoro parliamentary elections to September 14, 2026.

Marcos likewise signed RA No. 12316 into law, which granted him emergency powers to suspend or reduce the excise tax rate on petroleum products amid the rising fuel prices in the country due to the US-Israel war on Iran.

However, these are only two of the 53 priority bills of the Marcos administration, with a huge chunk of the proposed measures remaining pending at the committee levels of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Data from GMA News Research found that one bill — the Amendments to the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act — is now one step away from becoming law after the bicameral conference committee approved it.

Four LEDAC bills are pending in the bicameral conference committee, while 20 are still pending at the committee levels of both chambers.

The status of the 53 priority measures identified by LEDAC is as follows:

Passed into law

• RA 12316: Authorizing the President to Suspend or Reduce Excise Tax on Petroleum Products
• RA 12317: Resetting the First Regular Elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM)

Pending enrolment

• Amendments to the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act

Pending Bicameral Conference Committee

• National Center for Geriatric Health
• Amendments to the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education Act / Basic Education Voucher Program Act
• People’s Freedom of Information Act / Right to Information Act
• Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) Act

Passed by Senate, pending at House committee level

• Classroom-Building Acceleration Program (CAP) Act
• Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability (CADENA) Act

Passed by House, pending at second reading in Senate

• Amendments to the Bank Deposits Secrecy Law / Banking Reform for Integrity, Good Governance, Honesty, and Transparency (BRIGHT) Act
• Amendments to the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (CSAEM) Act
• Anti-Political Dynasty Bill
• Amendments to the Masustansyang Pagkain Para sa Batang Pilipino Act / National Nutrition Program
• Amendments to the Biofuels Act / Oil Price Stabilization Act

Passed by House, pending at Senate committee level

• Amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) – Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC)
• Waste-to-Energy Bill / Waste Treatment Technology Act
• Estate Tax Amnesty
• Travel Tax Abolition Act
• Department of Water Resources
• Amendments to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) Act
• Digital Media Anti-False Information Act
• National Reintegration Bill / Bagong Balikbayan Act
• Amendments to the Teachers Professionalization Act
• Amendments to the National Building Code
• Blue Economy Act
• Digital Payments Act / eBayad Act
• Presidential Merit Scholarship Act
• National Land Use Act
• Strengthening the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA)

Pending second reading in Senate, House

• Party-list System Reform Act
• Independent People’s Commission Act
• Disqualifying Relatives of Officials (4th degree) in Government Contracts / Government Contracting and Procurement Integrity Act
• Requiring Civil Servants to Waive Bank Secrecy

Pending at Senate, House committee level

• Amendments to the Rice Tariffication Law / Rice Industry and Consumer Empowerment (RICE) Act
• Amendments to the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act
• Reprogramming of Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG)
• Modernizing the Bureau of Immigration
• Amendments to the Magna Carta for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)
• Disaster Risk Financing Insurance
• Progressive Budgeting for Better and Modernized Governance Act / Philippine Budgeting Code (PBC)
• Law on Online Gambling
• Magna Carta for Barangays
• Amendments to the Fisheries Code
• Philippine Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Act
• Fair Use of Social Media, AI and Internet Technology in Elections
• Amendments to the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Law
• Amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA)
• Excise Tax on Single-Use Plastics
• Amendments to the Local Government Code (LGC)
• Amendments to the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act
• Cybersecurity Act
• Masterplan for Infrastructure and National Development (MIND)
• General Tax Amnesty

The number of enacted priority measures in the first year of the 20th Congress was significantly lower than the 40 LEDAC-backed bills in the 19th Congress. Of the figures, 27 measures were aligned with the legislative agenda under the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028 and 21 were SONA priority bills of the Marcos administration. —With GMA News Research/LDF, GMA News