THE House of Representatives is targeting the bill on the naturalization of Justin Brownlee be passed on third reading before the holiday break.
House Committee on Justice chairman Rep. Juliet Marie de Leon Ferrer said they are fast-tracking House Bill 825, which seeks to grant Filipino citizenship to the longtime Barangay Ginebra import through naturalization.
[READ: Brownlee naturalization passed on first reading in Congress]
Brownlee passed the first step on the naturalization proceedings with the bill authored by Rep. Mikee Romero passed by the committee on first reading. The bill though still needs to pass through second and third reading before it is transmitted to the Senate where it will also have to go through the same three steps as well.
Once approved by Senate, the bill can either be signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., to officially grant Brownlee Filipino citizenship or lapse into law.
The House though recognizes the time constraints between now and the February window of the Fiba Basketball World Cup Asian qualifiers where Brownlee is being targeted to play for Gilas Pilipinas.
The Philippines will play Lebanon on February 24 and Jordan on February 27, with both games to be played at the Philippine Arena.
“With respect to the current application of Justin Brownlee, the chair acknowledges the tight schedule for the next window for the Fiba qualifiers in February next year considering that we only have until December 14th or less than a month for both Houses of Congress to pass the bill on third reading before we go on a month-long break until January 23rd of next year,” said Ferrer in her opening statement.
“But with the help of my fellow colleagues in the House of Representatives, we hope we can act on his application of Mr. Brownlee for the Bill to be passed on third reading before the December break,” said Ferrer.
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