Press Release
July 11, 2008

Loren penned 7 of 30 bills passed by Senate
'It's work, work, work for me, in and out of session halls'

Senator Loren Legarda authored seven of the 30 bills that had been passed on third reading by the Senate, just one year into the 14th Congress.

"I'm inspired and elated considering the number of my colleagues who are all pushing for the passage of their respective pet bills," said Legarda.

She stressed that the passage of her bills and the veritable adoption by the House of bills for which she had filed counterpart measures at the Senate are motivating her to work doubly hard.

"It's work, work, work for me, in and out of the Senate session halls. If it's not physically impossible, I'd like to be a 24/7 senator since there's no end to what we can do, in and out of the Senate, to fight poverty and improve the quality of life of our people," Legarda said.

Legarda is also an environmental advocate, being the chair and founder of Luntiang Pilipinas. Likewise, she's been working to alleviate poverty, improve education, and push women's health and empowerment through foundations she had established.

Her seven bills that had been passed by the Senate are the Batas Kasambahay Act, the Cheaper Medicines Act, Environmental Awareness through Education Act, Decriminalizing Vagrancy, Strengthening and Expanding the Special Program for the Employment of Students, the Pre-Need Code and Act Lowering the Amusement Tax on the Film Industry.

Of the 52 bills passed on third reading by the House, seven have Senate counterparts that Legarda also authored.

These are House Bill 375 or the Billion Trees Act, HB 3293 on amendments to the Bureau of Food and Drugs Act, HB 4114 amending the Provincial Water Utilities Act, HB 4253 creating the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, HB 3956 or the Career Executive System Act, HB 4193 or the Renewable Energy Act, and HB 1387 creating the Disabilities Affairs Office.

"To ensure their passage into law, I am constantly monitoring the progress of my bills' counterpart measures before the House of Representatives, as well as their progress before bicameral committees," Legarda said.

Legarda was also instrumental in the signing into law last May of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Act which she co-authored and whose passage she shepherded as chair of the Senate Economic Affairs Committee.

The MSME law empowers upstart industries through capitalization and technical support from the government.

As chair of the committee, Legarda held public hearings (including on-site consultations like the one she held at the Bataan industrial zone) on 14 bills and nine resolutions.

And as chair of the Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development, she conducted hearings for nine bills, among them SBN 2092 - Barangay Livelihood and Skills Training Centers, which was consequently approved by the Senate on third reading after her sponsorship of the same proposed measure.

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