after disclosing in a July 6, 2022 Facebook Live post that he is meeting with Sen. Loren Legarda on the matter. In the second week of July, Padilla filed a second batch of priority bills and resolutions that touched on federalism, the creation of the Congress-Parliamentary Bangsamoro Forum, a resolution on the appointment of the Marawi Compensation Board, a resolution on joint exploration of the West Philippine Sea, the Local Development Fund Act, a Nursing Home for Senior Citizens Act, Civil Unions Act, the Eddie Garcia Act, inclusion of Philippine History in high school curriculum, and Unsung Heroes Day. Padilla, who chairs the Senate committee on Cultural Communities and Muslim Affairs, pushed for an investigation into why Aetas in Central Luzon have not been able to get some P19 million due them from an agreement signed in 2007. Legalizing Medical Marijuana Padilla, in filing Senate Bill 230, sought the legalization of medical cannabis (marijuana) not only as an affordable cure for various medical ailments, but also as a potential source of revenues the Philippine government needs to fund its programs. He noted that for the Philippines' proposed national budget for 2023, the government needs P5.268 trillion in funding for its various programs to create jobs, invest in infrastructure and digitalization, and set up other projects in line with its eight-point socioeconomic agenda - but with only P3.632 trillion coming from revenues and P2.207 trillion from borrowings. Also, he pointed out that many government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) have lost money, with subsidies to 80 GOCCs reaching P212 billion in 2021 alone, but these GOCCs generated only P38 billion or 18% in dividends. He lamented the GOCCs had net losses of some P33 billion. The lawmaker likewise pointed out the health benefits of medical cannabis, based on 29,802 publications on the matter since 1829 - including US studies from 2016 to 2019, showing cannabis has "moderate to high quality of evidence of efficacy, effectiveness, and safety" in medical conditions where its use is allowed. He pointed out as well that the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs removed cannabis from the list of dangerous drugs in December 2020, even as cannabis has been used as medicine for more than 3,000 years. Also, he said the medical use of cannabis has been legal in 70 countries, with 4.4 million patients with access to legal cannabis products - yet these do not include