Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Friday, October 9, welcomed President Rodrigo Duterte’s call for a special session of Congress amid fears that the House speakership tussle will delay the passage of the 2021 national budget.
Responding to reporters’ questions on whether a special session would avert the possibility of reverting to a reenacted budget in 2021, Sotto said, “Yes, as long as both houses toe the line, especially during the bicameral conference.”
“No reenacted budget!” Sotto added.
On Sunday, October 11, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon meanwhile urged Duterte to call for a special session of Congress from November 9 to 13. He said this will allow Senate to debate the budget on the floor.
Duterte on Friday called on Congress to hold a special session from October 13 to 16. This will force the House of Representatives to reopen session next week. It suspended its session prematurely last Tuesday, October 6, without passing the 2021 national budget bill on 3rd reading.
Congress – the Senate and the House – was not scheduled to go on break until October 15.
The House was expected to pass the budget bill on 3rd and final reading on October 14, but House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano moved to go on recess earlier, preventing a possible takeover by his rival for the top post, Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco.
The Senate had kept to the schedule, but it needed the House to pass the budget bill next week to ensure its timely passage before the end of the year. The way things had been going, several senators, including Sotto, warned that the Senate would not be able to pass the 2021 budget bill on time, which would have forced the government to reenact the 2020 budget for 2021.
With the House now ordered to convene next week, Sotto expects it to pass the budget bill according to schedule.
“Technically it’s the same thing [for the Senate]. We are really set to have sessions until the 16th anyway. So the order of the President puts emphasis on his call for the House of Representatives to approve the budget on 3rd reading, and give the Senate time to study, review and pass the (General Appropriations Bill),” Sotto said on Friday.
On Thursday, October 8, Duterte warned Congress to fix the delay in the budget process, which he connected with the House speakership contest.
The President said he would intervene if lawmakers fail to resolve these issues themselves.
Duterte said any failure by any government agency would reflect poorly on his administration, and will forever be associated with his presidency.
Operating on a reenacted budget is unwelcome for the government under any circumstance, but it would have been especially detrimental as the COVID-19 pandemic continues unabated. The 2021 budget bill was drafted with the health and economic crisis in mind, unlike the 2020 budget.
But would the special session also open the possibility of a shakeup in the House leadership?
“Anything in their order of business can be taken up. Any motion on any measure may also be taken up,” Sotto told reporters. That is to say, anything can happen, besides the passage of the budget bill – Rappler.com
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