MANILA - Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Tuesday ordered the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) to submit a "plan" on how the agency could improve coordination between the executive and legislative branches.

Several senators have complained about how implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for laws are very different from why the measures were crafted, Drilon said during PLLO's 2021 budget deliberation in the Senate.

Several bills — including a measure that will create a trust fund for coconut farmers — were also vetoed due to the lack of coordination between the executive and legislative branches, he said.

"The PLLO should provide him (PLLO budget sponsor Sen. Panfilo Lacson) with a written plan on how to improve the liaison system between the executive and the Senate so that we do not again see our time wasted by the lack of coordination," he said.

"We have not been benefitted with any improvement in liaisoning with us," he said.

• Senators lament wrongful or non-implementation of laws over IRR issues with executive agencies

Under the law, the PLLO is mandated to "liaise with Congress regarding all matters impinging on Executive-Legislative relations."

It is also "tasked to officially orchestrate the formulation and the shepherding of the President’s Legislative Agenda and all other concerns of the Executive Department having to do with the legislature."

But PLLO Secretary Adelino Sitoy said executive departments have not been inviting his agency during the crafting of IRRs.

"Unfortunately when those are being ironed out, we are not notified and we are not involved in the process but this time we will insist in being involved in the process," Sitoy told senators.

The PLLO chief also admitted that the office does not have direct access to President Rodrigo Duterte as they receive comments about bills "belatedly."

"The basis of the veto was not articulated in advance," Sitoy responded when Drilon said the Coco Levy Trust Fund Act was vetoed last year due to the lack of executive-legislative coordination.

"While we received comments belatedly, we were advised that the comments were very confidential so we cannot extend the comments to Congress again," he said.

Drilon said the PLLO is in a "sad state" for being excluded in meetings, which is part of its mandate.

"It's quite obvious that there is a wide gap in the ability of Sec. Sitoy to coordinate the efforts of the Senate, of Congress and the executive branch," Drilon said.

"It needs better coordination between the chamber where the law came from and the executive branch so that friction will be reduced," he said.