The House of Representatives will resume plenary sessions on
Monday following a two-week suspension due to the imposition of enhanced
community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region (NCR) amid the surge
in COVID-19 infections.
Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said the House has to work double
time on pending measures that it should have already taken up had the NCR not
been placed under the strictest quarantine classification for two weeks.
“We will tackle as many bills and resolutions as possible to
make up for the time lost during the ECQ,” Velasco said.
The Speaker said the chamber is also anticipating the
submission by the Executive Department of the National Expenditure Program
(NEP), which contains the proposed P5.024-trillion national budget for 2022.
Once the NEP is received by Congress, Velasco said the House
Committee on Appropriations, chaired by ACT-CIS Partylist Rep. Eric Yap, will
begin the budget deliberations as soon as possible.
“We are ready to carry out our constitutional duty of
carefully scrutinizing the NEP and eventually pass a national budget that is
truly reflective and responsive to the needs of Filipinos as COVID-19 continues
to wreak havoc on people’s lives and the economy,” Velasco said.
Last August 2, the House leadership decided to suspend
plenary sessions while the NCR was under ECQ from August 6 to 20.
During the two-week lockdown period, all meetings were held
via videoconferencing and congressional offices were closed. Only Secretariat
personnel with extremely essential tasks were allowed to report physically to
the office.
Such measures, according to Velasco, were necessary as authorities tried to contain a fast-spreading outbreak of the highly infectious Delta coronavirus variant in NCR and other regions across the country.
A recent memorandum issued by Secretary General Mark Llandro
Mendoza provides that the House will resume plenary sessions on August 23 under
the hybrid platform.
The sessions shall be held from 2pm to 5pm, with only the
Speaker or his duly designated deputies; the Majority Leader and Minority
Leader or their respective representatives; and a limited number of Secretariat
personnel physically present inside the session hall. The rest of House members
shall attend the session via videoconference. – House of Representatives of the
Philippines
