MANILA – Congress resumes session today. In the Senate, priority bills will be tackled, according to Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III who has been expertly steering the Upper House through a crippling coronavirus pandemic.
He is proposing more session days, according to Sotto who has almost 25 years of experience in public service spent mostly in the Senate.
Among the priority measures are the proposed creation of a department focused on overseas Filipinos, the Retail Trade Act and the Public Service Act.
Sotto, a probable candidate for vice president in next year’s election, said he would propose to fellow senators to have sessions on Thursdays like in the Old Congress “so we can have 12 days instead of nine.”
A long-time senator, Sotto’s legislative record boasts some of the most important laws crafted in recent years.
He was the brains behind the creation of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the government’s enforcement arm against illegal drugs.
Sotto was also responsible for the absentee voting law that allows Filipinos based abroad to participate in the country’s elections.
The most recent and relevant bills Sotto filed were the pandemic-responsive Bayanihan 1 and 2, as well as the medical scholarship act which will give deserving students free financial assistance in pursuit of their dream of becoming doctors.
Following the 2016 elections, Sotto is currently serving his fourth term in the Senate, having served two consecutive terms from 1992 to 2004. He was re-elected to the Senate in 2010.
Prior to serving in the Senate, Sotto had served from 1988 to 1992 as vice mayor of Quezon City, the biggest city in the country./PN
