HOUSE Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” A. Marcos of Ilocos Norte on Sunday welcomed the steady movement of key Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) measures in the House, citing the recent Appropriations panel approval on the Presidential Merit Scholarship Program and the parallel progress of the proposed National Land Use Act as proof that priority bills are moving in the House under the leadership of Speaker Faustino “Bojie” G. Dy III.
“These committee-level approvals show the House is doing the hard work early under the steady guidance of Speaker Faustino ‘Bojie’ G. Dy III – building consensus, refining policy and making sure the measures we bring to the floor are ready,” Marcos expressed, adding the Approprations panel’s approval paves the way for the measures to proceed to plenary deliberations.
Marcos noted that two LEDAC priority measures – the scholarship bill on merit-based support for top senior high school graduates and the land use measure establishing a national framework for rational, sustainable land allocation – are both already cleared by their main committees and now approved by the Committee on Appropriations last week.
The scholarship measure, sponsored at the Appropriations panel by Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude A. Acidre, who chairs the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education, institutionalizes the Presidential Merit Scholarship Program under the Commission on Higher Education, ensuring that academically outstanding senior high school graduates have a stable legal framework of support that does not depend on shifting priorities.
The proposed National Land Use Act aims to put order and coherence in how the country plans and manages land resources, providing a national framework and creating an oversight body to help resolve land use conflicts across agencies and levels of government, while requiring consultations from the regional level down to cities and municipalities.
Marcos said the House has kept the pace on the broader LEDAC agenda, with eight priority bills already on advance stages in the committee levels, reflecting what he described as a disciplined push to align legislation with the administration’s priorities and the needs of ordinary households.
“Our focus remains on bills that directly affect education, health, food security and social protection, because these are the areas where legislation turns into something families can actually feel,” Marcos said.
“Kaya we make sure that we expedite the approvals of these LEDAC measures kasi alam namin na tunay na ginhawa ang hatid ng mga panukalang ito para sa ating mga kababayan,” he added.
With the approval of two out of eight LEDAC measures in advanced committee stages, the Appropriations panel will move for deliberations and eventual approval of the remaining six LEDAC priority measures: the bill modernizing the Bureau of Immigration; the measure creating an Independent People’s Commission; amendments to the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act; amendments to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) Act; amendments to the Magna Carta for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, and a proposal resetting the elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The BARRM bill secured a place among the four key measures endorsed during recent LEDAC meeting under the Common Legislative Agenda (CLA), signaling its importance in the administration’s reform priorities.
Joining it in the CLA were the Expanded OSAEC and CSAEM Act of 2026 and a bill aimed at curbing fake news and digital disinformation and Marcos’ proposed abolition of the travel tax.
Marcos noted that these developments build on earlier legislative gains by the House, where 12 of the 52 LEDAC priority measures have already been approved on third and final reading.
He emphasized that the House continues to prioritize legislation that directly responds to pressing household needs, especially in the areas of education access, public health services, food affordability, and social protection.
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