De Venecia said the most urgent priority is to bring the government’s huge budget deficit "to a manageable level" and to tame the foreign exchange crisis brought about by the burgeoning foreign debt.
"Our task is to initiate the moral equivalent of war to tame them — for this is at the core of our battle against poverty," De Venecia said in his closing statement before adjournment.
He identified the two other urgent challenges as completing the peace talks with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the insurgent communist National Democratic Front, and finalizing Charter reform at the earliest possible opportunity.
"We seek a unicameral, parliamentary, federal form of government."
The chamber gave De Venecia — elected in 2001 with the largest majority in the House — a three- minute standing ovation after a statement in which he declared, "we are proud of what we achieved."
The chamber praised and honored De Venecia with a Resolution introduced by Acting Minority Leader Agapito Aquino for the Speaker’s sterling leadership and proven statesmanship.
The resolution was co- sponsored by Reps. Prospero Nograles, Roque Ablan Jr., Teodoro Locsin Jr., Raul del Mar, Marcelino Libanan, Florencio Abad, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Del de Guzman, Generoso Tulagan, Constantino Jaraula, Deputy Speakers Raul Gonzales, Emilio Espinosa and Gerry Salapuddin and Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II.
Among the House bills that became laws, De Venecia picked out the Anti-Drugs Act of 2002, which he called the "toughest drug law in Asia."
This law, he said, has enabled President Arroyo’s government to go after drug lords and dismantle shabu laboratories in order to protect Filipinos from the drug menace.
De Venecia also singled out the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act that would ease close to one million court cases clogging the courts for years.
De Venecia said his 747 Economic Action Plan unveiled in 2001 to defeat poverty was earlier adopted by President Arroyo and her Cabinet with its target of 7 percent GDP growth for each of the next seven years.
He said the 12th Congress was highlighted by the address of US President George Bush before the Joint Session of Congress in October last year, promising an economic aid package to rebuild Mindanao once the peace agreement with the MILF is signed.
De Venecia extended a verbal invitation to President Bush during Arroyo’s state visit to Washington in 2003.
12th Congress ends
The House of Representatives managed to convert 76 of 1,130 bills into law when it ended its three years of legislative sessions yesterday, but congressmen were nevertheless proud of the accomplishment.
Speaker Jose de Venecia received a three-minute standing ovation after delivering a valedictory speech that declared that the 12th Congress has "staunchly defended Philippine democracy."
In its two-hour session, congressmen ratified the bicameral conference committee report that sought to amend the charter of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation and, in effect, increased the insurance coverage for bank deposits from P100,000 to P250,000.
De Venecia also swore into office Pasig City Rep. Noel Cariño whose victory in the 2001 congressional polls in the district was upheld last June 9 by the Supreme Court.
For its last legislative act, the chamber passed two resolutions citing De Venecia and Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II for their "sterling leadership" of the Lower House that resulted in the approval on third and final reading of some 1,130 bills.
Of the approved measures, only 76 were actually enacted into laws as 162 measures of national application and about 810 others of local applications were stranded in the Senate.
House records indicated that 2,750 bills were actually filed by the congressmen.
The Speaker also assured the nation that the president-elect "would take the solemn oath of office at noon of June 30 in the sacred and highest ritual of our democratic tradition." (Ben R. Rosario)
