Malacañang assured the nation on Saturday that President Arroyo would immediately act on the Expanded Senior Citizens’ Act and the Legal Assistance to the Poor Act of 2010 as soon as the Congress transmits these proposed bills to the Office of the President.

Deputy presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo said the signing of the proposed bills would come right after the Office of the President scrutinizes them.

“Sigurado na sa oras na masubmit sa Pangulo ang mga ito at mabilis itong pag-aaralan ng Malacañang upang magkaroon ng mabilis na action tungkol dito (I’m quite sure that when these are submitted to the President, they will be immediately acted upon by Malacañang),” he said.

He said the promotion of national interest would factor in the decision of the President whether or not to sign the bills.

Malacañang had earlier expressed reservation on the bill, exempting at least 4.6-million senior citizens from the value-added tax (VAT), saying that President Arroyo will weigh the pros and cons of the measure out of fear that passing it into law could dampen collection of the VAT and complicate tax collection systems.

“Pinapaubaya po natin sa Pangulo at sinisiguro po natin na ang kanyang magiging pagkilos ay sisiguruhin, unang-una ang kagalingan ng bayan at ang pagsulong ng ating programa sa ating kababayan ay hindi maaantala at gayun din naman ‘ung mga hinahangad na ating mambabatas ay mabibigyan din ng sapat na pagsusuri (We are leaving this up to the President and we assure you that the action of the President would ensure first, the national interest in the implementation of the projects so they won’t be stalled and at the same time, those proposed by our lawmakers will be reviewed),” Saludo said.