MANILA, Philippines - House Speaker Prospero Nograles is concerned that over a thousand bills passed by the lower House may go to waste because of the Senate's focus on the ethics case against Nacionalista Party presidential bet Senator Manuel Villar.
 
"Mabilis ang output namin. As of February 1, the total number of measures we have approved on third reading and sent to the Senate is a total of 1,020. I don't know how many more they will act on within the last two minutes of the ballgame--today and tomorrow," House Speaker Prospero Nograles told House reporters in a lunch press conference on Tuesday.
 
Most of these are local bills. "Some senators are indifferent while others want us to approve certain bills here in the House in exchange for our local bills in the Senate. Name no names. But usually, that’s the situation even in the past Congresses," Nograles said.
 
Congress will hold its last session day on Wednesday, February 3, before it adjourns for the election campaign.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on Wednesday on the possible censure of Villar for allegedly using his position as the then Senate president to exploit the C-5 road project to favor his business interests.
 
The Senate, together with the House of Representatives, will resume session after the May elections where they will as the national Board of Canvassers for the presidential and vice-presidential elections. No more bills may be taken up during this time.
 
Nograles, who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives for two years, praised the lower chamber's performance. Based on a report of the Office of the Secretary General, the House has acted on 2,477 measures.
 
This includes:

476 bills passed into Republic Acts
39 bills awaiting President Arroyo's signature or awaiting ratification
664 resolutions on inquiries in aid of legislation
80 national bills
390 local bills
1,011 measures passed on third reading
 
Bills on the line

Nograles has already ruled out the passage of the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill.
 
"Ang RH, hindi na talaga namin kukunin kasi it's very controversial. There are still 20 people who want to interpellate. We cannot accommodate that anymore," Nograles said.

But he has not given up on the Right of Reply bill, and on the bill giving tenure to the chief of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).
 
The Senate earlier passed the Right of Reply bill on third and final reading. In the House, it is pending approval on second reading.
 
The PAGCOR bill is pending approval on third reading in the House of Representatives. "I'm trying to get the feel of the Senate kung okay sa kanila yun," Nograles said about the PAGCOR bill.
 
The PAGCOR bill is seen as paving the way for PAGCOR chair Efraim Genuino, a close ally of First Gentleman Jose Miguel 'Mike' Arroyo, to keep his high-paying job.

The counterpart PAGCOR bills in the Senate are still at the committee level. The Senate--if they are in favor of the bill--can adopt the House version without amendments.

If approved and signed into the law, it would allow President Arroyo to appoint a new PAGCOR chief who will head the third highest revenue earner of the government in the next three to seven years, depending on the final form of the bill.

Only measures that can pass
 
"We have to make sure that what we pass, we have the same [position] as the Senate. Even if we pass it, if Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile will say, 'Mukhang hindi papasa kasi mayroon pa silang very controversial issue that they will tackle tomorrow. I hope something still comes out in this," Nograles said.
 
"We are having our liason with the Senate kung ano ba ang papatulan ng mga senador. Kahit pasa kami ng pasa, pero ayaw naman nila i-take up, sayang lang ang oras namin. Importante ang teamwork ngayon between the House and the Senate," Nograles said.
 
"The order of this week, I told the leadership in the House, we will take up only measures that we can pass. Those controversial measures na hahaba pa ang debate, at mag-uuwian kasama namin at wala ng quorum, itabi muna namin yan. Kasi last two days na lang tayo. Nakita naman ninyo. Ang pinapasok namin yung mga non-controversial. Yung hinog na at wala nang mag-question. Otherwise, we will be tied down with debates. We cannot produce anymore," Nograles said.