97 new House members to get orientation before start of 20th Congress
House of Representatives prepares for the start of the 20th Congress.
MANILA, Philippines — At least 97 new members of the House of Representatives have been invited for an orientation and seminar on law-making, Secretary General Reginald Velasco said on Thursday.
In an interview at the Batasang Pambansa complex, Velasco said that the program is aimed at introducing the basics of lawmaking to neophytes or incoming House members who have not been elected to the chamber before. However, it will also be available to returnees, or former lawmakers who either took a hiatus or were elected back to Congress.
“We have two batches, one will start Monday and we will invite you to cover the, maybe the commencement of the, we call this seminar for the first termers, no? But this is also open to returnees, no? Because we have some congressmen who have returned from their previous positions, some ran as governors before or mayors,” Velasco said.
READ: Comelec 2nd Division cancels Duterte Youth party-list’s registration
“But based on our records, we have 97 first-termers, you know, first-time congressmen. So it’s quite a big, big number. So we expect them to attend, these two batches,” he added.
According to Velasco, the seminar for the first set of lawmakers will be from June 23 to 25, while the second batch will have their orientation July 7 to 9.
“I will deliver the opening remark […] Well, just to get a feel of what will happen […] it’s really, it’s talking with the first-termers, telling them about the ABCs of legislation, you know, how the bill becomes a law, you know, the processes,” Velasco said.
Share experiences
Furthermore, the House official said they have invited incumbent lawmakers to share their experience in terms of lawmaking and procedures in the House.
Both Deputy Majority Leader and Iloilo 3rd District Rep. Lorenz Defensor and Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Northern Samar 1st District Rep. Paul Daza will be present to help the new lawmakers.
“And we are also introducing a new concept here, we have congressmen, active congressmen of the 19th Congress and the 20th Congress to share their experiences, live experiences. So there’ll be sharing of these experiences, Q and A (question and answer) from the first-termers,” Velasco said.
“So it’s not just all academic discussions, there will be live interaction between a congressman, former congressman and an active 20th congress congressmen, to interact with them, to share whatever experiences they have,” he added.
According to documents shared by Velasco, of the 97 new lawmakers, 69 are district representatives while 28 are from party-list groups.
READ: Marcy Teodoro’s proclamation, 18 others suspended by Comelec
There are also 41 returning lawmakers, or solons who were not part of the 19th Congress but were members of past Congresses — 35 of which are district representatives while six are from party-lists.
A total of 123 lawmakers are in their second term, while 51 are in their third term — leading to a total of 312 lawmakers who have been proclaimed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
With the 20th Congress expected to have a total of 317 seats, there are still five seats unoccupied — three from the Duterte Youth party-list whose registration was canceled by the Comelec 2nd Division, and one from Abra and Marikina whose proclamations were suspended by Comelec.
