Just New Warrior

One-fifths of Senate bills filed by Miriam

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago filed the most number of bills in the Senate with 704 and co-authored 25 others.

The senator’s bills almost comprise one-fifths of the 3,868 bills filed by all senators for the Fourteenth Congress. She also topped the list for most number of resolutions filed with 277.

Santiago, despite her chronic fatigue syndrome, consistently led her fellow senators in submitting the most number of legislative measures since her election in 2004. Her medical condition prompted the senator to file for an indefinite sick leave last year and early this year.

Notable among her bills is the Anti-Billboard Bill passed by the Senate but ignored by the House of Representatives in the last congress, reportedly because of the influence of a moneyed billboard lobby.

The measure, which places a strict ban on the billboards that fail to comply with certain size and location requirements, recently passed the committee level as Committee Report No. 85 and is now waiting to be sponsored on the Senate floor.

Santiago’s Anti-Video Voyeurism Bill passed second reading before the Senate’s sine die adjournment in the wake of the recent Senate investigation on the proliferation of the sex videos involving Dr. Hayden Kho and various women. The bill aims to protect the privacy and dignity of every person by criminalizing photo and video voyeurism.

Senate Bill No. 1757, or the Clear Sidewalks Act of 2009, sponsored by Santiago and co-authored with Sen. Benigno Aquino III, passed third reading before the adjournment.

The bill prohibits the use of streets, sidewalks, avenues, alleys, bridges, parks, and other public places for commercial or personal use, and requires citizens to apply for the temporary use of sidewalks for special community-wide occasions and other civic or charitable purpose.