Cayetano hits Senate over Duterte powers bill amid COVID-19 crisis
MANILA, Philippines — House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano hit the Senate over the amendments it made to the bill granting President Rodrigo Duterte special powers amid the coronavirus pandemic.
At around midnight on Tuesday, Cayetano delivered a speech at the plenary hall just after the House approved House Bill No. 6616 declaring a national emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic and authorizing President Rodrigo Duterte “for a limited period and subject to restrictions, to exercise powers necessary and proper to carry out the declared national policy.”
“If we wanted publicity, we would have killed this bill and every single advocacy we would spell out until it’s as thick as a phone book,” Cayetano said, speaking partly in Filipino.
“If the Senate bill is that way then that’s up to them. But we’re simple,” he added.
During the special session of Senate, which started Monday, senators suspended the session several times to discuss amendments to the Senate Bill No. 1418 — the counterpart bill of House Bill No. 6616.
The Senate version of the bill was approved around 1 a.m., Tuesday.
However, Cayetano said that the “national government asked for flexibility” in the drafting of the bills.
“They told us about the plan. The plan is community quarantine. The plan is to keep people in their homes. The plan is to set up and support the present health system and to grow it. The plan is to get supply in and the plan is to give money,” Cayetano said.
Cayetano also hit individuals who he said were politicizing the issue.
“If you think that we care about politics at this point in time, you are very very much mistaken,” he said. “We only care about how our people can survive this period. What’s funny is that those who say we’re politicizing this are the ones politicizing it.”
“What the administration asks for is simple: Give us a bill that will help us find money off-budget. Give us a bill that will allow the President to divert or to revert or to realign money to programs that can go straight to the people like the conditional cash transfer. Give us a bill that will penalize people if they don’t follow regulations,” he added.
The House Speaker also took note of an unnamed senator.
“Imagine a senator of the republic saying we need medicine, we need to help the frontliners, we need provisions of food but we don’t need special powers. So emergency powers,” Cayetano said.
“So where will you get the more than P275 billion that will be used? When we made this budget, no one knew there would be COVID-19. Like the rest of the world, who was prepared for this? But the President acted and more people will die unless we all understand why,” he added.
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