Senate to probe more govt agencies in 2nd regular session

The Senate will continue with its inquiries into supposed anomalies in the financial transactions of certain government institutions during the chamber's second regular session, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said Monday. "There are more of these irregularities and the Senate will not back down from unveiling them. The human propensity to abuse power and to some extent to acquire illegal wealth, remains a challenge for us lawmakers... we shall endeavour to craft legislations that will addresss and correct what is wrong in the bureaucracy," Enrile said in his speech during the opening of the Senate's second regular session. Enrile said the other things that can be expected from the Senate are the debates on the controversial Reproductive Health bill and the passage of the national budget for 2012. "I hope we can pass it promptly as we did the General Appropriations Act of 2011. This will be an opportune time to assess the various programs of this administration under what they called a reform budget," he said.

He said that they also aim to consider other legislative priorities like the National Land Use Policy, Anti-Trust Bill, Fiscal Incentives Bill, People's Survival Fund Bill, among others. "Let us work on them until they become laws of the land," he said. Enrile likewise urged the chamber to "explore" the possibility of introducing amendments to the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution. "Our country abounds with idle human potential and untapped natural resources. It is time that both Houses of Congress crank the gears of the engine of sustainable development and use these available resources for the common good," he said. He also said he hopes that the country will be able to address its rift with China over the Spratly Islands. "While the issue must be settled diplomatically, the incident showed us how lacking our armed forces are in terms of military material and equipage. We have no decent military might to speak of, not even to defend our own territory. This sad state of affairs must also be addressed immediately," he said. The Senate suspended its session until later in the afternoon for a joint session with the House of Representatives for the President's State of the Nation Address. — RSJ, GMA News