19th Congress resumes in refurbished halls

Screenshot from RTVM/LIVE

MANILA, Philippines — A “grand stage for another historic presidential address,” as House Speaker Martin Romualdez described it, was what President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. entered on Monday when he delivered his third State of the Nation Address (Sona), while senators also walked into a newly renovated Senate building with the resumption of the 19th Congress.

Guests of the presidential address finally saw this “grand stage” up close—a major facelift of the Batasang Pambansa complex, home to the 300-strong House, to the cost of P20 million.

Among the biggest changes were the North and South Wing’s fully renovated lobbies—now fully air-conditioned hallways with glass doors.

READ: Security preparations for Sona ‘in place’ amid expected protests – PNP

These once open-air hallways served as the red carpet area where brand-new touchscreen panels were also set up, displaying information about the Sona and Congress.

New chandeliers were also installed in the rear entrance where Marcos entered going into the plenary hall..

There were also multiple LED screens across the Batasan complex for live viewing. Another change was the classy blue terno uniforms worn by the House staff.

House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said the total budget for the “preparations and execution of the Sona… covers a range of essential expenses to ensure the event’s success.”

Apart from the catering itself, the budget covered food and beverages for personnel like the police, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority officers, and other support staff, from the preparatory activities up to the event.

“Every peso allocated for the Sona is carefully scrutinized and managed to reflect the significance of this constitutionally mandated event while being conscious of public sentiments regarding the use of [taxpayer] money,” Velasco said.

The Senate also had major renovations in time for the resumption of the 19th Congress on Monday.

The six-story building, which the Senate has been renting from the Government Service Insurance System, was so brightly lit that it made Sen. JV Ejercito mestizo (fair-skinned), Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said in jest.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros also liked the renovations made during the two-month-long recess—from the carpet flooring to the refurbished committee rooms to the paintings borrowed from the National Museum and the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

“[A place that looks] bright is good. It should inspire all of us to also make our work better,” she said.

According to Senate President Francis Escudero, the Senate shelled out only P2.1 million—amid a review of the ongoing construction of the new Senate building in Taguig City.

“We spent very little on these. Actually most of these were only maintenance work and basic rearranging,” Escudero said in a news briefing.

Activists like Bayan president Renato Reyes slammed the “tone-deaf pageantry” associated with the Sona, saying that it showed “how insensitive the ruling regime is to the plight of the people. It has been all image-building and hardly any problem-solving.”