MANILA, Philippines -- Speaker Prospero Nograles has rejected a proposal to padlock the session hall of the House of Representatives while the chamber is in session, saying this would violate the human rights of congressmen.
Instead, Nograles said the House will implement a “double roll call” starting Monday to ensure that congressmen do not leave the session hall right after the first roll call.
The first calling of the roll will be done when session opens at 4 p.m. and the next roll call will be at 7 p.m.
“No padlock [is] necessary. It's just a failure to communicate and give constant reminder[s] for them to attend and not to leave after roll call,” the Speaker said in a statement on Thursday.
Administration congressman Pedro Romualdo of Camiguin broached the idea of a lockdown, complaining that many of his colleagues leave after the first roll, preventing the House from acting on pending measures, including a proposal to raise tax exemptions for certain sectors, for lack of a quorum.
Nograles admitted being “equally concerned” and “disappointed” with the persistent problem of the lack of quorum in the House.
“ I'm also disappointed because we have already improved our quorum shortly after I assumed the speakership but the problem is creeping back,” he said.
Nograles said it was Majority Floor Leader Arthur Defensor and his deputy majority leaders who proposed the idea of the “double roll call” when they started to notice the dwindling number of congressmen after 6:30 p.m.
“We have been discussing this double roll call policy for several weeks now because even our Majority Leader Art Defensor expressed his concern about this [lack of quorum],” he said.
“I'm really thankful that this is now out in the media because we now have every reason to implement this starting on Monday,” he added.
However, Nograles acknowledged that there are times when congressmen cannot be physically present in the session hall because they have to attend to other meetings within the House premises, mostly on matters concerning their committees or districts.
