President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called off a scheduled Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting at the Palace yesterday and instead met with members of the House and the Senate separately.
This was confirmed by Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva and Senator Imee Marcos.
“Instead, we had an executive session with the President,” Villanueva said.
No explanation was given for the unusual setup, but analysts have recently observed a looming rift between the two chambers of Congress over differing views on how to amend the 1987 Constitution.
On Wednesday, the House approved the 54th LEDAC priority bill on the proposed Philippine Self-Reliant Defense Posture Program.
The measure aims to develop the country’s national defense industry.
The three remaining LEDAC measures awaiting final approval in the House are the amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, which is under technical working group finalization; the Budget Modernization bill; and the National Defense Act.