The House of Representatives under the leadership of Speaker Lord Allan Velasco ratified the Bicameral Conference Committee Report on the House and the Senate's disagreeing provisions on House Bill 10153. The bill is entitled “An Act Appropriating Funds for the Operation of the Government of the Republic of The Philippines from January 1 to December 31, 2022.”
In his Christmas message to House Members, the Speaker during the plenary session thanked them for their hard work.
He said in the past year, the House carried the duty of crafting policies to shepherd the Philippines towards recovery.
The Speaker said that as of yesterday, the House had already approved 133 Republic Acts and “expect more measures that we hope the President signs into law before the year ends including the General Appropriations Act of 2022.”
He said the House has also approved 930 measures on third and final reading and adopted 266 resolutions.
“This is our harvest of legislation for 2021 so far," Velasco said.
Earlier, the House adopted several resolutions giving commendations to Philippine Army Generals and their troopers. These are House Resolutions 2374, 2375;, 2376, 2377, 2379, and 2384, commending troopers of the Philippine Army’s 102nd Infantry Brigade under the leadership of BGen. Leonel Nicolas PA; 1st Infantry Division Philippine Army under the leadership of Maj. Gen. Generoso Ponio PA; the 54th Engineer Brigade Philippine Army under the leadership of BGen. Anthony Cacayuran PA; 44th Infantry Battalion Philippine Army under the leadership of LTC. Don Templonuevo INF (GSC) PA; 53rd Infantry Battalion Philippine Army under the leadership of LTC. Jo-Ar Herrera INF (GSC); and 547th Engineer Battalion, Philippine Army under the leadership of Battalion Commander Col. Emerito Pineda GSC (CE) PA, respectively for their valuable achievements in countering insurgency, violent extremism, and for successfully dismantling guerrilla fronts of communist terrorist groups, as well as their contribution to the promotion and maintenance of peace and stability in Western Mindanao.
Also adopted were HR 2381, urging the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to immediately release the P10,000 emergency cash aid under the assistance to individuals in crisis situation program to the victims of typhoons Rolly and Ulysses; HR 2395, congratulating Farrell Eldrian Wu for his outstanding and inspiring scholastic achievements graduating from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.; HR 1897, commending Filipino seafarers on board MV Fleur N for rescuing 86 refugees drifting for days in the Mediterranean Sea; HR 2390 urging the government to focus its poverty reduction efforts on the identified Regions with the highest incidence of poverty; and HR 2389, congratulating and commending Filipino Chess grandmaster Eugene Torre on being the first Asian male inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame by the Federation Internationale Des Echecs.
In addition, the House adopted HRs 999; 1118; 1313; and 1336, directing the House Committees on Justice and on the Welfare of Children to conduct a probe on the reported spike of online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) during the COVID-19 enhanced community quarantine; HR 1751, calling for an inquiry on alleged irregularities and setbacks on the free wi-fi internet access in public places project by the DICT; HR 1549, urging the Special Committee on Creative Industry and Performing Arts to conduct an inquiry on the issue of counterfeit garments appropriating weave patterns from the Cordillera coming into the local markets from abroad; and HR 2422, commending the Honorable Rowena Nina Taduran, representative of the Anti-Crime and Terrorism Community Involvement and Support, Inc. (ACT-CIS) Party-list for having been conferred the President’s Award by the Filipino Academy of Move Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) during the virtual 69th FAMAS Awards Night were likewise adopted.
