NEGROS Occidental Third District Representative Jose Francisco "Kiko" Benitez assured Saturday, June 18, that he will file more bills and spearhead additional health projects as he is given another term to serve his constituents.
At his State of the District Address and inauguration at the Event Center of Magikland in Silay City, the reelected congressman also cited relevant bills that he sponsored during his first term of office.
Benitez, who took his oath of office before Silay City outgoing Mayor Mark Andrew Golez, also inducted into office some officials of the locality led by Silay Vice Mayor Tom Ledesma.
"The last two years have tested the resilience of the Filipino spirit (as) we have faced an unprecedented health emergency, an economic recession, a divisive election - and the ripple effects of other international crises such as wars, and climate change," he said.
For many families in the Third District [of Negros Occidental], Benitez said there were days in the last two years that had been a "life-and-death struggle."
"The increased sense of uncertainty and vulnerability from these existential threats had obscured our people's prospect for a better life," the lawmaker lamented.
He also said that the pandemic had highlighted the need to catch up and come to terms with transformations happening around the world.
"We had to shift our priorities and realign our resources (and) we need to improve our infrastructure, recalibrate government machinery, and reconfigure built, social and natural environments," he told the attendees of his inauguration.
It has become more urgent, that while we still need to construct new roads, we also need to enhance our local health system capacity to address disease outbreaks, and build new telecommunication towers and install fiber optic cables to connect schools and communities to the Internet to enable distance learning and remote work, Benitez emphasized.
Benitez, who worked on House Bill 10463 that will increase the bed capacity of Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital, said the Senate has adopted the bill before the 18th Congress adjourned and is now awaiting the signature of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Aside from the Provincial Hospital, Benitez said they are also mobilizing resources to build or improve more barangay health centers.
In fact, he has filed several bills in Congress introducing sustainable solutions to development pressures -- solutions that leverage science, innovation and creativity that will enhance the capability of individuals, households, enterprises and communities to adapt to disruptions.
He took as an example House Bill 6874, which aims to accelerate the digital transformation of the economy, bureaucracy and education system and harmonize fragmented Information Communications Technology (ICT) policies and programs, and provides for a framework for digital reskilling of our labor force.
The lawmaker has been calling for a higher budget for the country's ICT department through House Resolution 1203, and funding for the National Broadband Plan that outlines a nationwide fiber optic cable network through House Resolution 1253.
Benitez also chaired the Technical Working Group that crafted House Bill 11098, which seeks to establish ICT hubs in every local government unit.
"These interventions are crucial to harness the opportunities that the Fourth Industrial Revolution has created," Benitez stressed, adding that the advances in science and technology are radically transforming a wide range of human activities with deep implications in value creation, consumption and labor.
Under his term, digital reskilling centers were opened in the cities of Talisay, Silay and Victorias which will all soon be fully operational, while Tech4Ed Centers were provided in Murcia and E.B. Magalona.
Laptops were also given to students and teachers in the Third District for digital or distance learning transition.
Other bills sponsored by Bemitez are the promotion of 5h3 heritage tourism and creative industries or House Bill 10107 that gears toward cultivating Filipino talent and entrepreneurship, and support creative industries as catalysts of economic growth and national pride.
Meanwhile, Benitez co-authored with Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda House Bill 10057, which mandates local governments to conduct cultural mapping to boost heritage tourism, heritage conservation and cultural education.
These bills will enable the Third District to harness its cultural capital and maximize cultural assets and human creativity as a springboard for post-pandemic economic recovery.
He said they articulated in Congress the need for phased prohibition of single-use plastics.
"I am particularly proud that House Bill No. 9147, which I helped craft as chair of the Technical Working Group, was passed on third reading - the furthest stage that it reached since the first bill on single-use plastics regulation was filed 20 years ago," he said.
Benitez was also part of the bicameral Conference Committee that crafted the bill on extended producers' responsibility which shares the responsibility of plastic waste recovery between local government units and manufacturers.
He also led the Technical Working Group on bills that aim to prevent marine pollution -- and filed a landmark bill that provides a framework for the blue economy.
It was also behind the House Bill 10479 that calls for sustainable practices that will protect our marine wealth and our maritime heritage.