Congress ‘racing against time’ — Drilon

Senate President Franklin Drilon opens the First Session of the Senate for the Year 2015 on Tuesday (Jan. 20, 2015) at the Senate Building in Pasay City. (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA — Sen. President Franklin Drilon said that the Congress is “raising against time” following the opening of the third regular session on Monday.

Given only six months left to work on the remaining measures, Drilon said lawmakers should set aside political interest and make use of the time left productively.

“We are racing against time. We must set aside political interests and think of solutions to the nation’s pressing problems. Let us remind ourselves that we are here to serve the people, and not special interest groups.” Drilon said.

He added that senators are expected to work on a range of measures that will help the country attain economic prosperity and uplift the life of every Filipino.

“We should continue in the last regular session of this Congress, and even beyond, the pursuit of good governance and the audacity to implement meaningful reforms, no matter how unpopular they may be,” Drilon said.

He said that both the Senate and the House of Representatives will focus on six measures including the Bangsamoro Basic Law; the 2016 National Budget; the creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology; the amendments to the built-operate-and-transfer law to strengthen our private-public partnership; the PAGASA modernization; and the Freedom of Information Bill.

Other measures which will also be monitored in the Congress’ remaining months are the tariff and customs modernization act; the national ID system; the proposed public-private partnership act; acquisition of the right-of-way act; the prepaid SIM card registration, among others.