Bayan Muna not giving up on SSS pension increase

Bayan Muna is not giving up the fight to override President Aquino’s veto on the P2,000 Social Security System (SSS) pension hike even after House leaders abruptly adjourned its final session without taking a vote on the floor.

Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said at least 57 lawmakers have already signed up to overturn the President’s veto including Liberal Party stalwart Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon and Vice President Jejomar Binay’s daughter, Makati Rep. Mar-Len Abigail Binay.

But this is way short of the 192 members needed to get the necessary two-thirds vote in the House, which was the first step in overriding a president’s veto. A similar two-thirds vote must come from the Senate to override the vote.

Colmenares said House leaders panicked Wednesday night and moved immediately to adjourn on Congress’ final working day before the start of the official campaign period next week when it realized that the override vote was gaining ground at the surprisingly well-attended session.

Other bills sacrificed

“The House leadership unceremoniously and abruptly ended the session without allowing a vote on the override motion. There was a quorum last night with at least 213 congressmen in the House premises according to the House Secretariat itself. This means the majority did not have the votes to quell the override and decided to even sacrifice the passage of their priority bills like the PPP (public-private partnership) bill just to avoid losing the vote on override,” Colmenares said.

Dozens of senior citizens proceeded to the Batasan gallery Wednesday in a show of force to compel lawmakers to confirm their previous vote on the bill. But they were made to wait for four hours as the session was opened at 4 p.m. and was suspended until it resumed at 8 p.m. only to be adjourned.

The senior citizens, who were already drenched with rain after staging a picket at the Batasan gates that same morning, were angry at the way the House leaders had conspired to avoid a vote.