Negros lawmakers a study in opposites during first year in Congress

By Kathrina Alvarez
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
LAWMAKERS representing Negros Occidental province, including Bacolod, its capital, are a study in opposites.
The province’s six representatives may have had too much time on their hands during their first year in Congress. After all, each one of them only authored not more than 15 proposed laws during the first regular session of the 15th Congress.
In contrast, Bacolod City’s lone district Representative filed 56 bills during the same period.
Anthony Golez Jr., a former deputy presidential spokesperson of former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, also co-authored 58 separate measures — all during the first year of the Aquino administration.
This is a far cry from the measures sponsored by the province’s fifth district Representative Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo, the former President’s brother-in-law.
Iggy Arroyo sponsored sponsored 14 measures, making him the busiest of six Negros Occidental representatives.
Neophyte lawmaker Alfredo “Albee” Benitez, who represents the province’s third district, filed only 10 bills during the same period. Same with fourth district Congressman Jeffrey Ferrer, who chairs the House committee on land use and is also a vice-chairperson of the committee on dangerous drugs.
For their part, second and sixth district Representatives Alfredo Maranon III and Mercedes Alvarez both filed five House bills each.
First district Representative Julio “Jules” Ledesma IV, the fourth-richest lawmaker and a known perennial absentee, only managed to file two bills in the House of Representatives.
Golez vocal vs RH bill
Golez was vocal in criticizing the much-debated reproductive health (RH) bill during his first year as a neophyte lawmaker.
To counter House Bill 4244, which will provide for a comprehensive policy on RH and responsible parenthood, Golez, a medical doctor, filed House Resolution 509 calling for the House committee on health to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, to answer the question regarding when does human life begins “whether from the moment of fertilization or from implantation” to determine if RH services are lawful or not.
Besides the establishment of several schools in Bacolod, Golez also filed House Bill 2999, which will create a new legislative district in Bacolod City. The measure is pending in the House committee on local government.
The former Arroyo spokesperson also filed a House resolution directing the committee on health to conduct an inquiry on alleged practice of hospitals that engage registered nurses and nursing graduates as on the job trainees instead of hiring them as regular employees with appropriate compensation.
Golez, a member of 12 House committees, is the vice-chairperson of the House committees on health, and national defense and security.
He also co-authored a measure filed by Paranaque Representative Roilo Golez that provides for the safety and protection of the unborn child. The proposed legislation is also perceived as a bill opposing the long-delayed RH measure.
Golez is also one of the more than 200 legislators who signed a House resolution urging the administration of President Benigno Aquino III to allow the burial of the remains of former President Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, a proposal earlier shot down by Aquino.
Despite being identified with the former President, Golez voted in favor of the impeachment against then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, an Arroyo appointee.
Golez is the 72nd richest out of the 285 congressmen with P47.76 million, according to his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth of 2010.
Iggy Arroyo’s measures
Among the local bills Arroyo authored include the proposal to put health centers in barangays covered by his district.
The three-termer also sponsored House Bill 2082, which seeks to establish a credit assistance program for overseas Filipino workers, and House Bill 2083, which shall provide incentives to public school teachers who are assigned outside of their towns and provinces. Both measures are still under deliberation in the committee level.
Arroyo, a member of 11 committees, also co-authored 25 measures, including the controversial House Bill 4244, which shall implement a reproductive health law in the country.
He is also among the 200 lawmakers who signed a House resolution urging President Aquino to allow the burial of the remains of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City.
Among the 285 members of the House of Representatives, Arroyo was the 18th richest with according to their 2010 Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth with P137.24 million.
Benitez begins to make strides as legislator
Alfredo “Albee” Benitez, the second-richest congressman next to boxing champion and Sarangani Representative Manny Pacquiao, has started to make strides as a neophyte legislator.
Of the 10 bills that he filed, two remain pending at the House committee on local government. The first aims to provide a Magna Carta for barangay health workers and the second proposes to offer incentives to barangay health workers.
Benitez, who owns Bingo Bonanza, has a net worth of P624.85 million in 2010.
Benitez, a member of nine committees and vice-chairperson of the House committee on transportation, also filed a resolution directing the House committee on energy to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the cause of high prices of fuel products in the province of Negros Occidental.
Fourth district Congressman Jeffrey Ferrer, who chairs the House committee on land use and a vice-chairperson of the committee on dangerous drugs, authored House Bill 3256. His net worth is P37.17 million.
The bill seeks to establish additional branches of Regional Trial Courts, one to be stationed in Bago City and another in La Carlota City. He also filed House Bill 3257, which seeks the creation of a special economic zone in La Carlota City.
Ferrer, a two-term lawmaker, also favors the passage of an RH bill, being one of the co-authors of House Bill 4244.
Meanwhile, second and sixth district Representatives Alfredo Maranon III and Mercedes Alvarez both have a net worth of less than P10 million. Maranon has a net worth of P7.41 million while Alvarez has P2.90 million.
Both have also filed five House bills each.
Maranon, chairperson of the House committee on health and vice chairperson of the committee on ways and means, filed House Bill 3087, declaring the Northern Negros Natural Park as a protected area providing for its management.
He also filed a House resolution urging the Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System to upgrade the retirement benefits and pension of retirees.
Representative Alvarez is the vice-chairperson of the House committees on public works and highways, and revision of laws.
Through House Bill 3971, Alvarez wants to declare the entire sixth district of Negros Occidental as an ecotourism zone.
Alvarez is also one of the authors of a House measure that synchronizes the August elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with the mid-term elections in 2013, a bill included in the priority list of President Aquino.
The fourth-richest lawmaker and a known perennial absentee, first district Representative Julio “Jules” Ledesma IV only managed to file two bills in the House of Representatives. Ledesma has a net worth of P555.07 million.
The two measures include House Bill 4105, otherwise known as “An act declaring a parcel of land of the public domain an agricultural land for town site purpose of the municipality of Salvador Benedicto”, and House Bill 4114, otherwise known as “An act declaring the first day of July of every year a special non-working holiday in the city of San Carlos”.
Despite being the most notorious absentee legislator in Congress, the House leadership entrusted Ledesma with a committee chairmanship on the House Committee on Science and Technology.
These seven legislators from Negros Occidental are set to resume legislative work on July 25 during the opening of the second regular session in Congress. (Sunnex)
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/06/28/negros-lawmakers-study-opposites-during-first-year-congress-163789

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