• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Expressing his support for the national energy emergency declaration made by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., House Deputy Speaker Alfredo Abelardo Benitez is filing a bill, the Bayanihan for Economic Resilience and National Stability Act of 2026, which seeks to empower the executive to respond efficiently to the evolving crisis.
In a statement, Benitez said the proposed bill also aims to ensure transparency, accountability, and targeted relief by providing emergency powers, fiscal flexibility, and strategic interventions to stabilize prices, protect vulnerable sectors, and ensure national resilience.
The Bacolod solon issued an appeal to his colleagues to start deliberating the proposal as soon as possible.
“Now more than ever, we need to act as the House of the People and craft a viable strategy that will allow us to overcome this crisis and ensure the welfare of the Filipino people,” Benitez said.
The lawmaker also described PBBM declaration of a state of national emergency and authorizing the Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food and Transport, as a timely and much-needed response to this new crisis the whole nation is facing.
“I have always advocated for a whole-of-government approach to solving our most serious issues, and this declaration allows for just that—for the government to move as one to ensure that the Filipino people are able to continue living decently, that industries are protected, that no one loses their job because of this crisis,” Benitez said.
If there is anything we should have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is that the government must be swift, decisive, and flexible in its response mechanisms, he stressed.*
