Senate sees early resumption of session to tackle 2021 proposed national budget

FILE PHOTO — Senate President Vicente Sotto III. (Albert Calvelo /Senate PRIB)

MANILA, Philippines — Senate is eyeing a resumption of its session earlier than Nov. 16 to work on the proposed 2021 national budget once it receives its approved version from the House of Representatives, two senators said Saturday.

In an interview with DWIZ, Senator Panfilo Lacson suggested that the Senate may return to work a week before Nov. 16 if the House will transmit its budget bill in the third week of October.

“Pwede pa naming gawin kung nasa amin (yung budget bill) Oct 20-25, pwede kami mag-resume ng session one week earlier than Nov 16 para ma-sponsor sa floor ang committee report at pagkatapos may isang linggo para magbasa, pag-aralan ang committee report para pagpasok ng Nov 16, debate na kami,” Lacson said.

(What we can do is if the budget is transmitted to us by October 20 to 25, we can resume session one week earlier than November 16 so that we can already sponsor the committee report to the floor then after a week of hearings, we will study the report so that by Nov. 16 we can already conduct debates.)

When sought for opinion for early resumption of session, Senate President Vicente Sotto III approved the idea, saying they are not limited to resume the session on Nov. 16.

“Correct, agree. Payag ako. Pwede ko naman iresume yun e, hindi naman kailangan November 16,” he said in another interview with DWIZ.

(Correct, agree. I can resume the session, the session should not only be opened on November 16.)

Both chambers are set to go on a break on Oct. 17. The scheduled resumption of session for both chambers will be on Nov. 16.

On Friday night, President Rodrigo Duterte authorized the Congress to conduct a special session on Oct. 13 until Oct. 16 to resume the congressional deliberations and avoid delays for the passage of 2021 proposed budget.

This after House Speaker Alan Cayetano and his allies decided to stop sessions at the lower chamber until Nov. 16 with the proposed spending measure approved only at second reading.

Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco are currently on a clash for the House speakership post which endangers the timely passage of the 2021 national budget.

‘Special session’

Lacson, meanwhile, said if the House will show disrespect to the President if they will not approve the spending measure on third reading during the special session.

“Kapag hindi pa nila napasa ang budget on third reading hanggang Biyernes, talagang lantaran na ang pagsuway sa kagustuhan ng Pangulo,” the senator said.

(If they will not pass it on time until Friday then it shows a display of disobedience to the President’s wish.)

Sotto also hoped the upper chamber will approve its version of the spending measure on time for the duration of the special session.

He also described President’s move to call for a special session as “master stroke” after the House suspended its session earlier than Oct. 17.

“Sana. ‘Yun ang iniisip namin. Siguro yun iniisip ng Pangulo. Tingin ko sa ginawa ng Pangulo tinatawag na special session ‘yun dahil ‘yun ang nasa sulat niya,” the Senate leader said when asked if the budget will be transmitted to the Senate on time due to the special session.

(I hope so, that’s what we are thinking. And the President may also be thinking of the same thing. What the President calls it is a special session because that’s what was written.)

“Technically sa akin, it is a master stroke (clever move) sapagka’t nagkaroon ng ibang diskarte ang HOR, ang diskarte, bigla silang suspend,” he added.

(Technically, for me, it is a master stroke because the HOR had a different style, they suddenly decided to suspend.)

CFC