After political skirmishes, Senate buckles down to work

“Political skirmishes” in the Senate, as Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III put it, affected legislative work in the chamber in the early months of the Duterte administration.

But a reorganization seemed to have resulted in things simmering down, with Pimentel saying the Senate now had clearly defined political lines.

On the eve of a joint session of Congress that would be addressed by President Rodrigo Duterte, Pimentel was confident that the Senate would be able to speed up the legislative process and help achieve the chief executive’s campaign promises, the biggest of which was to fund his “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program intended to spur development.

So how did the Senate fare in legislation during the first regular session?

Bills passed, 4 laws

According to the record of the Legislative Bills and Index Service from July 25, 2016, to May 31 this year, 1,487 bills were filed in the Senate and 241 were acted upon or passed by the chamber.

Pimentel took exception to reports that the Senate was able to help enact only four measures during the period.

The Senate and the House of Representatives have approved seven measures, including the Act Postponing the October 2016 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections, the General Appropriations Act of 2017 and  the franchises of GMA Network Inc.  and Smart Communications Inc.

Other bills

But Pimentel said that after Congress adjourned its first regular session on May 17, there were approved bills waiting to be signed into law by the President.

These included the Revised Penal Code Indexation, Extension of Driver’s License Validity, Free Internet Access Program in Public Spaces, Free Higher Education for All Act, Anti-Hospital Deposit Law, Extending the Validity of Passports, Amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla, Designating Casinos as Covered Persons) and the Establishment of Multispecies Marine Hatcheries in Different Local Government Units.

Mr. Duterte signed the Amla amendments on July 19.

Unless he vetoes the other measures, the approved bills will lapse into law.

According to Senate records, the chamber approved 14 bills on third reading and two bills on second reading.

Asked whether he saw the second regular session achieving more, especially with the reorganization, Pimentel said there were certain political issues that “may again eat legislative time.”

Martial law extension

He said this might include the bid of the President to extend his martial law proclamation in Mindanao until the end of the year.

Congress held a joint session yesterday and approved Mr. Duterte’s request, as required by the Constitution.

Pimentel said the Senate would seek periodic briefings on the situation in Mindanao until the declaration was lifted.

Pimentel said the Senate had  entered into a “modus vivendi” with the House to speed up legislation work.

Late last year, he said, the senators and congressmen  began meeting regularly to list down priority bills they intended to approve within a certain period.

By having targets, the two chambers became more productive, he said.

He said the system was more effective and the two houses  would employ it again in order to fulfill the campaign promises of the President.

Lines drawn

Pimentel said the reorganization of the Senate “improved” the situation “because the line was clear on who was [the] majority and who was [the] minority and whom you could expect to support the majority position.”

Currently, six senators comprise the minority bloc: Franklin Drilon, Francis Pangilinan, Bam Aquino, Risa Hontiveros, Leila de Lima and Antonio Trillanes IV.

Asked about his relationship with the minority, Pimentel said it was “good.”

He explained that except for Trillanes, the current members of the minority were once part of the majority and even supported his bid for the Senate presidency when they were forming the supermajority in July last year.

‘More neutral’ Senate

In the eyes of the minority, Pimentel is the “agent” of the President, who so far has met only with majority bloc senators.

Since taking office, Mr. Duterte has hosted dinner for the 18 senators (now 17 with Alan Peter Cayetano resigning last June to become foreign secretary) and meets some of them from time to time to discuss issues.

Asked why the President had not reached out to the minority, Pimentel said that was his job and not the President’s.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said the Senate was more neutral now and independent, unlike before when it was seen as “critical” of the administration, referring to the time when Liberal Party senators were still with the majority.

“The bulk of the members of the majority are neutral,” Sotto said.

Priority bills

Some of the pending priority legislation are the revival of the death penalty, tax reform, lowering of the age of criminal liability and constitutional amendments for a shift to the  federal form of government.

Pimentel noted that Mr.  Duterte had said he would certify as urgent the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law and that most likely, the tax reform bill would be certified as urgent as well.

He said he would ask that the “end of endo” bill, or the Contractualization Act of 2017, be also certified as urgent by the President.

The Senate chief also  said the President would likely certify the tax reform bill, but Drilon said it was possible that the tax reform bill would not pass this year due to controversial provisions.

Conscience voting

According to Drilon, senators would vote according to their convictions on the death penalty bill.

Mr. Duterte wants to bring back the death penalty and the House has already approved the bill.

But the measures remains stuck on the Senate justice committee.

Pimentel said all he wanted was for the Senate to report out  the committee report on the death penalty measure on the floor “as a sign of respect to the House.”

“Whether it wins or loses, my appeal to the senators who are for or against it, let’s decide based on substance, not technicality like delaying it,” he said.