Filipinos facing hardship from recent disasters and rising costs are at the center of a fresh push by Malacañang to move stalled legislation, as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered lawmakers back to work despite their ongoing recess.
The President signed Proclamation No. 1318 on Monday, directing the Senate and the House of Representatives to gather on Wednesday, June 17, for a special session. The order frames the move as a response to pressing needs — among them the aftermath of natural disasters and strain on household budgets tied to energy costs — and instructs both chambers to give urgent attention to bills meant to widen the social safety net.
At the heart of the agenda are measures the administration says are designed to expand access to schooling and medical care while reinforcing protection for the most vulnerable. The call comes during the period when Congress would normally be on break, the regular session having adjourned earlier this month with a return originally scheduled only for late July.
The legislative package flagged for the session draws heavily from the priority list Marcos endorsed earlier this year. Health-sector items include the proposed National Center for Geriatric Health, a body intended to address the medical needs of an aging population. On education, the lineup features amendments to the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) Act, revisions to the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, and a measure covering Last Mile and Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged and Conflict-Affected Areas (GIDA) schools.
Several proposals target direct aid and nutrition. These include a law on Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations, amendments to the Masustansyang Pagkain Para sa Batang Pilipino Act covering child nutrition, and a Presidential Merit Scholarship Program. Governance reform also figures into the slate, with the long-pending Anti-Political Dynasty bill among the items cited for the chamber’s consideration, alongside other measures the Palace groups under strengthening social protection.
The President holds the authority to convene Congress outside its regular calendar under the Constitution, which permits a special session to be called at any time. Lawmakers in the lower chamber had earlier signaled they were prepared to return if summoned during the adjournment.
The timing follows weeks in which Palace officials voiced concern that turmoil in the Senate could stall the administration’s legislative goals. Senators had themselves examined whether a special session was needed to clear a backlog of pending bills and appointments that built up during a leadership dispute in the upper chamber, including the confirmation of senior military officers whose promotions risked lapsing before mandatory retirement.
