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Ulat sa Bayan: Education, security top in Gatchalian’s 121 measures

Photo by George Calvelo

Crafting new laws and helping his constituents are not new to Congressman Win Gatchalian due to his experience before as the 1st district representative of Valenzuela City from 2001 to 2004 when he first entered public service.

In his comeback at the House of Representatives, Gatchalian puts even more efforts in sponsoring bills and programs that aim to improve access and quality of education in the Philippines.

Gatchalian is also supportive of programs and reforms that will help improve the country’s traffic situation, peace and order, and public welfare.

 

Legislative efforts

Photo by George Calvelo

In the span of two years, Gatchalian has already penned  a total of 121 bills and resolutions during his term in the 16th Congress. Out of these 121 measures, he primarily authored 49 bills and 17 resolutions.

 

As of August, four of his 49 bills already passed the final reading in House of Representatives, and were forwarded to Senate for further deliberations and approval. These four are the following:

 

1) House Bill No. 4990 or Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Charter

2) House Bill No. 2624 or “SIM Card Registration Act” 

3) House Bill No. 5760 or “Anti-Hazing Act”

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Right now, he is primarily putting his effort on the swift passage of HB 5905 or the “Free Higher Education Act”  to mandate government to fully subsidize tuition fee in all state universities and colleges (SUCs) for any undergraduate and certificate degree.

 

HB 5905 was already approved by the House Committee on Higher Education and Technical Education in its first hearing on Aug. 4 after positive recommendations from other lawmakers.

 

He is also pushing for several key education measures, including:

 

1) House Bill No. 5348 or “Nutri-Skwela Act”

2) House Bill No. 2338 or “Mandatory ROTC”

3) House Bill No. 5731 or “Teacher Salary Hike”

 

The former mayor of Valenzuela City also wants to resolve the worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila in pushing for HB 5098 or the “Proof of Parking Space Act” to require car buyers to have a personal garage first to eliminate illegal side-street parking.

 

He also wants to professionalize law enforcement on the streets by establishing the National Traffic Enforcement and Management Center (NTEMC) through HB 5242.

 

Peace and order is also one of his top priorities in pushing for HB 4284 or the “CCTV Cameras for Crime Prevention” to prompt the installation of surveillance cameras in key establishments and significantly help in fighting criminal activities.

 

Aside from his primary authored bills, some 11 bills that he co-authored was also approved at the House of Representatives and on its way to becoming a law, including HB 4591 or the “Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST) Act”.

 

District programs

Photo by George Calvelo

While performing his legislative duties, Gatchalian also launches different kinds of programs to help his constituents through his local office in the first district of Valenzuela City.

 

In his 2nd term as congressman, he already helped over 33,623 Filipinos from 2013 to August 2015, including citizens who were not even residents of Valenzuela City but required immediate assistance.

 

Included in those are the 2,380 college students who received scholarship aids under Gatchalian’s Student Financial Assistance Program (StuFap) in cooperation with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

 

A total of 396 of those scholars just graduated from different universities last March 2015, which includes University of the Philippines (UP), University of Sto. Tomas (UST), Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela (PLV), and Valenzuela Polytechnic College (ValPoly).

 

Meanwhile, the former mayor of Valenzuela City also supported the medication of at least 16,333 patients in 14 various partner hospitals within Metro Manila, including National Children’s Hospital and Philippine Heart Center.

 

Around 2,800 jobseekers also participated in the three mega-job fairs launched by Gatchalian, in which 415 were hired on the spot and 226 made it to the final interview. He also assisted in the repatriation of 26 abused OFWs across the globe.

 

The 1st district representative also put a hefty sum of P432.2 million in local infrastructure projects over the past two years which include the construction of a new building in the PLV and ValPoly, and the various road and flood control projects.

 

Gatchalian also currently giving legal assistance to more than 4,805 members of 19 homeowner’s associations (HOAs) all over Valenzuela City to help them get accepted in the social housing program of different national government agencies. (Tim Alcantara)