Marcos Admin's Priority Bills See Slow Progress: Only 2 of 53 Enacted

Nearly a year into the 20th Congress, the Marcos administration’s legislative agenda has seen limited progress, with only two of the 53 priority bills endorsed by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) enacted into law. In March, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. signed into law Republic Act (RA) No. 12317, resetting the inaugural Bangsamoro parliamentary elections to September 14, 2026. Marcos likewise signed RA No. 12316 into law, which granted him emergency powers to suspend or reduce the excise tax rate on petroleum products amid the rising fuel prices in the country due to the US-Israel war on Iran. However, these are only two of the 53 priority bills of the Marcos administration, with a huge chunk of the proposed measures remaining pending at the committee levels of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Data from GMA News Research found that one bill — the Amendments to the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act — is now one step away from becoming law after the bicameral conference committee approved it. Four LEDAC bills are pending in the bicameral conference committee, while 20 are still pending at the committee levels of both chambers. The status of the 53 priority measures identified by LEDAC is as follows: Passed into law Pending enrolment Pending Bicameral Conference Committee Passed by Senate, pending at House committee level Passed by House, pending at second reading in Senate Passed by House, pending at Senate committee level Pending second reading in Senate, House Pending at Senate, House committee level The number of enacted priority measures in the first year of the 20th Congress was significantly lower than the 40 LEDAC-backed bills in the 19th Congress. Of the figures, 27 measures were aligned with the legislative agenda under the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028 and 21 were SONA priority bills of the Marcos administration. —With GMA News Research/LDF, GMA News