(Eagle News)– Quality over quantity.
Responding to criticisms the Senate passed only a few laws last year, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Wednesday night said the Upper House of Congress was after “quality not quantity” in the first place.
“Let us not judge lawmaking in terms of number of laws passed but in terms of how the laws we pass the quality of life on Earth in general and of Filipinos in particular,” he said.
Pimentel issued the statement after House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez criticized the upper chamber for being “slow” in passing laws.
In an interview on Wednesday, Alvarez said “Senate leadership should be a little more active so they’re faster…”
Earlier, Alvarez said that while the House passed over 6,911 bills since 2016, many of these got stuck in the Senate.
“That’s why only a few are signed into law. But we pass a lot of bills at the House of Representatives, during the first regular session and the second regular session,” he said.
According to Pimentel, in the first place, it was expected for there to be “many bills” passed in the House because “local bills” originate from this chamber.
He said by this he meant the laws that rename schools, merge schools, increase hospital beds, among others.
” The Senate is a nag-aaral na kapulungan,” he said.
“Again I say change mindset: quality not quantity,” he added.