THE Senate will not hold plenary sessions from Monday to Wednesday (August 9-11) next week, citing health risks and logistical constraints on Senate employees when Metro Manila goes on another enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) for two weeks.
The House of Representatives has also suspended plenary sessions, but for a longer period, or the entire duration of the ECQ, which starts August 6 and ends August 20, according to a memorandum from House Secretary General Mark Llandro Mendoza. All congressional offices will be closed, and only House Secretariat staff with extremely necessary tasks will be allowed in the premises.
Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said while all senators and most staff are vaccinated against Covid 19, other employees who make it possible to hold plenary sessions will have to commute during the ECQ. They are needed even for the hybrid, or physical-virtual plenary setup that the chamber has used to hold sessions since last year.
Committee hearings are iffy, Zubiri added, if the technical staff and stenographers who make these possible will not be able to physically work at the Senate, since they do not have the equipment at home that are needed for the hybrid setup.
Earlier, Senate President Vicente Sotto III told DWIZ the senators hope to work “overtime” this week — or while the ECQ is not yet in place, as it starts August 6 — to rush work on certified bills, especially the economic liberalization reforms.
President Duterte, in his July 26 SONA, had asked the Senate to pass the amendatory legislation to the Public Services Act (PSA), Foreign Investments Act (FIA), and the retail trade liberalization law (RTL).
On Monday, senators in plenary continued interpellations of the PSA measure, sponsored by Sen. Grace Poe, and are looking to finish this on Tuesday.
Asked to confirm reports that the Senate will suspend session from August 9-11, Zubiri earlier told reporters: “Yes. That’s confirmed.”
As for the hybrid committee hearings on those days, Zubiri said: “I am still checking. Ang mahirap kasi sa hearing, we still need stenographers, and of course, they cannot come to the Senate. So, paano na yan? Wala naman silang equipment sa bahay, so baka ‘yan wala din.”