Congress gears for online session anew

MANILA, Philippines —  Both houses of Congress are set to resume their regular sessions on May 4 as scheduled with the Senate gearing to approve changes in its rules that will allow official proceedings through electronic platforms.

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said earlier that the House of Representatives might convene online as it did during the special session it held on March 24 to approve the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act against the coronavirus.

But opposition Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay urged the House to amend its rules to foreclose any legal questions since the current rules do not include sessions via electronic platforms.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the chamber would also approve new rules that would allow online sessions in the face of government rules on the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine.

Physically present

At least three senators—Miguel Zubiri, Aquilino Pimentel III and Juan Edgardo Angara—and several Senate employees have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) after an infected person served as a resource person in one Senate session.

The new rules will allow Angara, who again tested positive, to participate in the proceedings but Sotto said the rules would have to first be approved by a majority of senators physically present at the session on Monday.

Moreover, Sotto said he would have to be physically present in the session hall to preside over all sessions until Congress adjourns sine die on June 5.

“There are procedures that cannot be done via teleconferencing. Someone has to preside from the session hall,” he said.

Observe health protocols

Once the new rules are approved, senators will be able to work from home after they inform the secretariat of their plan so that their presence could be recorded for quorum purposes.

They will be allowed to sponsor committee reports, participate during the interpellation and period of committee and individual amendments and cast their votes via teleconferencing.

But those who wish to deliver a privilege speech would have to be physically present in the session hall, Sotto added.

Senators and their aides will have to observe health protocols, including temperature checks, physical distancing and hygiene practices if they report to the Senate.

The rules are expected to be similar at the House when they resume session on Monday.

“Definitely, we will convene [but] we may have to conduct the session online again,” Cayetano said earlier.

But Lagman said online sessions were not covered by the current rules of the House and the chamber might have to approve changes to the rules when it reconvenes.

Since the declaration of the enhanced community quarantine due to COVID-19, Congress has held a special session and several committee meetings through video conferencing, which, according to Lagman, may be questioned in court.

But the new rules may be made retroactive, Lagman said, to cover the virtual House special session on March 24.

—WITH A REPORT FROM MELVIN GASCON