SENATORS TO FOCUS ON LEGISLATION, NOT REELECTION

Senate President Manny Villar, President of Nacionalista Party, declared that as far as he is concerned, the Senates unfinished business are the bills up for final debate and voting and not the incomplete slates that some senators up for reelection may run under.

Theres so much work to do, so politics is taking a backseat in our chamber, Villar said.

Villar stressed that it will be work as usual for Senate, notwithstanding the public preoccupation over the coming mid-term elections on May 14.

The first thing we will do when we convene on Jan. 22 is to ratify the bicameral conference committee report on the P1.26 trillion 2007 national budget, which the House and Senate panels managed to finalize this week, Villar said.

That will set us up for a good start and I am confident that the two session weeks remaining in our calendar will be productive as well. Legislation first before reelection, Villar said.

Since taking over the helm of the Senate six months ago, Villar has shepherded the passage of at 45 bills of national and local importance.

One of these is the Biofuel Act for 2007, which was signed into law by President Arroyo on Thursday.

Villar said the 23-man chamber will wrap up its work on dozens of other major bills before it will go on a nearly four-month election break before Valentines Day.

It is possible that senators will adopt the same work schedule they used in wiping out the backlog in bills in December last year, which was to hold morning-to-evening, Monday-to-Friday plenary sessions, Villar said.

So there will be no campaign sorties for some of us until we have finished our work. Ang sabi ko sa kanila trabaho muna bago pulitika. Kapakanan muna ng sambayanan bago ang sarili, Villar said.