MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Philippine President Benigno Aquino III will push for 17 priority legislation bills when he meets leaders of Congress in the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) for the first time this month, a senior government official said Sunday.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. said the shortlist, which was finalized last week, was selected from at least 180 proposed measures earlier received by the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office from various departments and the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce of the Philippines.

Ochoa said the priority measures are critical to achieve the priority concerns of the Aquino administration outlined in the 16- point agenda of the government.

"The 17 bills that the president will present to the LEDAC are in the final stages of preparation. We are not just submitting a list of measures, but the bills themselves, which have been studied by the lead agencies involved," said Ochoa.

Crafting of the proposed measures took time, to accommodate inputs and studies made following consultations between the lead agencies and stakeholders, Ochoa said, adding there were also proposals that were dropped from the list pending further study, while some could be implemented with existing government policies and programs.

"We hope that we can rationalize these priority measures with those of Congress so we can pass these at the soonest possible time," he said.

The priority bills to be submitted to the LEDAC will not cover new taxes or Charter change, in keeping with the president's previous pronouncements.

The proposals, instead, assure human development, infrastructure development, economic development, sovereignty and security, and good governance.