MANILA, Philippines — The Senate on Monday said the urgent certification of priority bills such as the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) bill should have been released earlier to give the senators more time to discuss the measure, making it “next to impossible” to be approved.
In a letter addressed to Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Monday, Duterte certified as urgent Senate Bill No. 2232, which mandates “institutionalizing, development, training, organization, and administration” of basic ROTC for Grades 11 and 12 in public and private educational institutions.”
READ: BREAK: Duterte certifies mandatory ROTC bill as urgent
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, however, said it would be “next to impossible” to approve the bills given that the Senate only has one session before Congress ends.
“We gave priority to the tobacco measure for additional funds for health services, so I hope the executive department will not take it against us that we only have one day left tomorrow… it would be next to impossible unless we just close our eyes and approve,” Zubiri said.
Zubiri said the certification of urgency should have been released earlier, but he expressed hopes that the next Congress would approve the bills.
“These measures would take hours of debate. I know for a fact that we have a different system in the Senate. The system in the Senate is the committee may approve it quickly… but the debates happen on plenary,” Zubiri said.
“We wish they were able to come out with the priority measure or certifications much earlier to help us be able to plan, study, and debate the measures in plenary. Unfortunately, these certifications were only given today,” he added.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon agreed with Zubiri, saying that the president’s certification only dispenses the three-day rule between the second and third readings of bills.
“There is nothing in certification which would shorten the debate on any measure,” Drilon said. “We need to debate on this more extensively.”
Senate President Vicente Sotto III also noted the time constraints, particularly the need for a bicameral conference committee even with the passage of the measures. (Editor: Eden Estopace)
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