Angara: Senate likely to halt ‘actual physical sessions’ amid coronavirus crisis

MANILA, Philippines — There are “strong opinions” among senators to postpone “actual physical sessions” once Congress returns from its two-month break as the country scrambles to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19.

Senator Sonny Angara disclosed this Thursday after being asked how the Senate would go about holding its regular session if the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine is lifted on April 30. The Senate is set to resume its regular session on May 4.

“There are some strong opinions about postponing actual physical sessions…This is something parliaments all over the world have kind of tried to grapple with,” Angara told reporters in a teleconference.

“You see, the UK parliament, where there are normally full benches, there’s only one or two persons sitting there and the rest are kind of sitting at home and attending the session virtually so that’s an option,” he added.

‘Hybrid’ session

Another option, according to Angara, is for the Senate to conduct a “hybrid” session.

“It’s just the Senate President, the majority leader and a few members present…meaning it’s kind of a mix. A hybrid session of partly physical presence and party virtual presence,” he noted.

During the Senate’s special session in March on the passage of the Bayanihan to Heal as Once Act, only 12 senators were present while the rest voted on the measure via phone call.

But the option of postponing the actual resumption of the session may still be considered, Angara said.

“The third option is kind of to postpone the regular session until there’s a need to really have…because it’s easy to call a special session the way we did to pass the Bayanihan Act last March,” he said.

Angara, however, explained that the conduct of their regular session post-lockdown would still depend on the Senate leadership since the decision of Senate President Vicente Sotto III “will prevail.”

In a radio interview on April 19, Sotto said tweaking the legislative calendar would not be possible.

“As far as the House and the Senate are concerned, that’s our legislative calendar. That’s our mandate. So we have to convene on May 4, no matter what,” he said.

As of this posting, President Rodrigo Duterte is yet to decide on whether or not to extend the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.

KGA