By Billy Begas
The House of Representatives has entered a memorandum of agreement with the Ateneo de Manila University in support of the 8-point agenda of the Marcos administration.
Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez is optimistic that the research collaboration project will help the House work on “evidence-based, people-oriented” legislation.
“Today is indeed an auspicious day at the House of Representatives. It has been our dream to bring about a smarter House of Representatives, one that is equipped with the means by which we can effectively pursue evidence-based and people-oriented legislation in a timely manner,” said Romualdez in his speech during the MOA signing.
Romualdez said the MOA is “an important step in the realization of this dream.”
“This partnership could not come at a more opportune time. We are at a critical juncture in our life as a nation. While the state of national health emergency has passed, many of our people are still feeling the effects of the pandemic and its byproducts on the economy,” Romualdez added.
The MOA, to be known as the HRep-Ateneo de Manila Research Project, was signed by House Secretary-General Reginald Velasco and Fr. Roberto Yap, president of ADMU and on behalf of the university’s Department of Economics and the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (ACERD).
“Please proceed with my blessings. We have our jobs before us and we need to act quickly. Our people are counting on us – in stabilizing the prices of basic commodities, in attracting more investments and creating more quality employment, in ensuring economic growth and prosperity,” the Speaker said.
The research project will focus on organizing 11 “Research Teams” that will conduct studies on sectors identified in the 8-Point Agenda of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
These are in the areas of agriculture and food security; infrastructure, transportation and energy security; health, education and social protection; employment; fiscal management; competition and entrepreneurship; research, development and the digital economy; environment, green and blue economy, and sustainable communities, and; peace, security, and public order and safety.
