‘Open-close’ session at House piques Atienza
MANILA, Philippines — Tuesday’s session at the House of Representatives could very well have been one of the shortest ever when lawmakers decided to adjourn session immediately after the national anthem.
A motion was raised to adjourn the session as female members of the House are on “official travel.”
The motion was approved promptly, with the session lasting just under six minutes.
This is informally called the ‘open-close’ session, where adjournment immediately followed the opening of session.
“Mago-open close lang tayo ng session (We will have an open-close session) without attendance today so that you can finish your discussion, not because we need a free day, but because whether we like it or not, medyo male dominated pa rin yung opinions (opinions are still male-dominated),” House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said in a Facebook live at the thanksgiving lunch of female House legislators.
Cayetano said he will be calling a meeting next week and invite all four female deputy speakers and only four of the male deputy speakers to discuss House-related matters.
The immediate adjournment rattled Buhay Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza, who expressed belief the ‘open-close’ session was related to the ABS-CBN franchise renewal.
Atienza on Monday delivered a scathing speech about the move of the Office of the Solicitor General in filing a quo warranto petition at the Supreme Court against the media giant. He also urged members of the House, particularly the committee on the legislative franchise, to tackle the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise.
The session was also adjourned after Atienza’s privilege speech.
“Bukas, edi magtatanong din ako ng mga inihanda kong tanong and I hope they will not adjourn it because otherwise, ganito ng ganito tayo (Tomorrow, I will ask my questions again and I hope they will not adjourn it because otherwise, we will just be like this),” Atienza told reporters.
Republic Act No. 3846 requires television and radio broadcasting companies to secure a franchise from the government before they are allowed to operate. It is Congress that will decide whether to extend the franchise to public utilities, such as the media.
At the House of Representatives, the ABS-CBN’s application for franchise renewal has yet to be tackled despite repeated calls from a number of its members for the issue to be addressed, especially with the franchise’s fast-approaching expiration date which is March 30.
Currently, there are 11 pending bills in Congress seeking the renewal of the media giant’s franchise. As of Tuesday, however, there is still no schedule of hearings for the issue.
