Legarda files 10 bills on Day 1 as new Antique Congresswoman

On her first day as Representative of the lone legislative district of Antique, Congresswoman Loren Legarda filed ten (10) proposed measures, including the bill that seeks to create the Antique High School for the Arts and the Northern Antique Protected Seascape and Landscape Act of 2019.

Legarda, who is the province’s first female representative in the bigger house, seeks to establish the Antique High School for the Arts to ensure that the talent and exceptional giftedness of young Antiqueños are recognized early and nurtured, thereby preserving and promoting Filipino heritage.

“The province of Antique is rich in culture and traditions evident in the existence and usage of the Kinaray-a language, the long-preserved performing arts of Komedya, the traditional practices of the indigenous peoples like the Atis and the Iraynon-Bukidnon, among others,” Legarda said.

“In order to cultivate the skills of young Antiqueño artists and leaders in the preservation of their heritage and identity through arts and culture education, House Bill 633 mandates the creation of the Antique High School for the Arts,” she added.

She also filed House Bill No. 632, or the “Northern Antique Protected Seascape and Landscape Act of 2019” declaring the seascape and landscape located in the municipalities of Libertad, Pandan, Sebaste, Culasi, and Tibiao in the province of Antique as an ecotourism zone, thus according them priority development by the Department of Tourism, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Public Works and Highways, and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.

“In anticipation of the influx of local and foreign tourists, this bill, when enacted into law, will help secure adequate national support for the local government units to realize its vast potential as an eco-tourism zone that is ecologically sustainable, responsible, participative, culturally sensitive, economically viable and ethically and socially equitable for the local community,” Legarda said.

The congresswoman also introduced new amendments to Republic Act No. 8759, otherwise known as the “Public Employment Service Office Act of 1999, as amended,” to primarily establish employment service office at the barangay level, and also to include entrepreneurship in the coverage of the law (House Bill No. 631).

Among the other bills filed by Legarda were: House Bill No. 634 which seeks to create the Department of Culture; House Bill No. 635, which seeks to regulate the manufacturing, importation, and use of single-use plastic products in the Philippines; House Bill No. 636, which provides for the development and protection of the Philippines’s handloom weaving industry; House Bill No. 637, which promotes food forest gardening in the country; House Bill No. 638, which seeks to institutionalize the Philippines’s participation in the international exhibitions of the Venice Biennale; House Bill No. 639, which protects and strengthens the indigenous peoples and local communities conserved areas; and, House Bill No. 640, the Anti-Discrimination based on SOGIE Bill.