Press Release
June 15, 2009

REVILLA BARES ACCOMPLISHMENTS, LAUDS COLLEAGUES FOR SUPPORT

Senator Bong Revilla today bared his accomplishments in the Senate, dispelling detractions that he is neglecting his duties as legislator and thanking colleagues for their support.

Senate Records will prove that Revilla is among those who authored the following legislative proposals which were approved on 3rd reading during the present 14th Congress: The Magna Carta of Women; Anti-Child Pornography Act; Decriminalization of Vagrancy; Legitimation of Children Born to Parents Below Marrying Age; National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009; Rent Control Act of 2009; Amusement Tax Exemption; New Pag-ibig Fund Law; Right of Reply; Salary Standardization Law III; Public School Teachers Salary Upgrade; An Act declaring the founding anniversary of Iglesia ni Kristo as Special Non-working Holiday; and the Migrant Workers Act; as well as 24 Engineering Districts Bills, 12 other bills of local application, and 3 telecommunication Franchise Bills. The Amusement Tax Exemption lapsed into law last May 21.

Revilla's bills meanwhile on Minimum Wage Tax Exemption; on the expanding of the organizational structure of the Court of Tax Appeals; Magna Carta for Small and Medium Enterprises; the new UP Charter; Renewable Energy; amendments on the Fire Code; the charter of the Mindanao University of Science and Technology; on strengthening and expanding the coverage of the Special Program for Employment of Students; and amendments to the Philippine Deposits Insurance Corporation Charter, have all been signed into law.

Revilla is also among those who filed a bill on the Girl Scouts of the Philippines Charter of 2009 and also a co-author of the Anti-Voyeurism Bill where he pushed for six to ten years imprisonment of photo and video voyeurs to strengthen the penalty provision of the said legislative measure. The said bills were already approved on second reading.

Aside from the Girl Scouts Charter and Anti-Voyeurism Bill, Revilla sponsored thirteen other bills of local application and another franchise bill which also passed on second reading before the Senate adjourned sine die last June 3. "Local bills at the onset may seem not to have national significance.

But, taking all of these local bills together, undoubtedly, its effect on the development of localities have a great national impact on the development of our people as a whole," he pointed out. Revilla has also sponsored Senate Bill No. 737, a bill that seeks to strengthen the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), to ensure the delivery of safe potable water in all 41,882 barangays nationwide. His Mandatory Helmet Bill that would oblige all motorcycle riders, including backriders, to wear standard quality helmets has also been passed in principle on second reading.

"I believe that slowly, silently but effectively, I am fulfilling my undertakings in the Senate. And partly, I have my colleagues to thank for their support in fulfilling my duties as a lawmaker. I thank them all for the encouragement and support, comments and advices; and in a way, for believing that there's more to Bong Revilla that meets the eye," he explained.

Revilla also vowed to push for the passage of the following bills before the 14th Congress ends: the Anti-Cable Television and Cable Internet Pilferage Bill, Kids' Off Motorcycles Bill, Disaster Management Bill, Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, Anti-Billboard Blight Bill, Registration of Heavy Equipments Bill, Compensation and Position Classification System Bill, Access to Information Bill and Closed Caption Bill.

The Kids' Off Motorcycles Bill, along with the Mandatory Helmet Bill, is part of Revilla's advocacy to promote road safety. It seeks to ban children seven years old and below from riding in motorcycles along national roads.

The Senate Committee on Public Works, under the chairmanship of Revilla, recommended the approval without amendments of the proposed Anti-Billboard Blight Act of 2007 that seeks to regulate the placement of non-mobile billboards including their support structures. In the same capacity, Revilla is also pushing for the approval of his bill that would require the compulsory registration of heavy equipment to generate substantial income for the government and to arrest the practice of unscrupulous contractors who bid for and are awarded projects even if they have no single piece of heavy equipment or machinery for their undertakings.

On the other hand, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Services, Revilla is pushing for a review of the franchise of telecommunication companies who are reportedly shortchanging their subscribers. He is also pressing for the passage of his Closed Caption Bill that would require all television networks to put closed captions in their news programs to ensure equal access of deaf Filipinos to public information.

Revilla also co-authored Joint Resolution 26 that would authorize the President to modify the Compensation and Position Classification System of Civilian and Base Pay Personnel. This is to address the overlapping of salaries between salary grades which results to salary inequities of positions. He also filed Magna Carta for Public School Teachers to provide additional benefits and privileges to Public School teachers.

Meanwhile, the proposed Freedom of Information Act of 2009 or the Access to Information Bill which Revilla co-authored is aimed to implement the right of the people on issues of public concern and fully disclose in public all government transactions involving public interest.

To further address calamity problems that the country regularly faces, he also filed the Philippine Disaster Risk Management Bill to decentralize disaster management strategies down to the barangay level for more expeditious and coordinated response to calamities and disasters.

"I owe the Filipino people my service. I will just keep on working for the millions who gave me their trust in electing me to this position. After all, I will never be able to please those who are already close-minded and strongly prejudiced that an actor like me will never be effective in any government position, no matter what I do," said Revilla, one of the senators with the most number of bills passed into law during the 13th Congress and 14th Congress and the senator who gathered the second highest number of votes during the 2004 elections.

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