BY WENDELL VIGILIA and RAYMOND AFRICA
THE Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City, home of the House of Representatives, was placed under lockdown yesterday by House leaders to prevent the spread of COVID-19 amid the entry presence of the highly transmissible Omicron variant and a spike in infections that prompted government to place Metro Manila under Alert Level 3 until January 15.
House Secretary General Mark Leandro Mendoza, in a text message to reporters, also said operations at the complex will resume next week.
Congress is still on a holiday break. Sessions will resume on January 17.
Mendoza, a former lawmaker, neither confirmed nor denied reports the antigen tests of at least 50 employees turned positive last Monday.
Two House members died from COVID-19 in 2020 — Francisco Datol Jr. (PL, Senior Citizens) and Bernardita Ramos (Sorsogon).
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he will not order a lockdown of the Senate despite a surge in COVID-19 cases but he postponed a hearing of the Senate Committee of the Whole, scheduled today, on the rampant smuggling of agricultural products so that the panel’s staff members will not have to report for work at the Senate complex.
Sotto said only a few Senate employees and staff members have been reporting to the Senate building in Pasay City since Congress went on holiday break on December 18 last year.
“Very few personnel in the Senate since Christmas. No reports (of infection among employees and staff members) so far. So far there is no need (for a lockdown) but I postponed the hearing tomorrow (January 05),” Sotto said.
It was Sotto who delivered a privilege speech on the rampant smuggling of agricultural products at the country’s ports despite several laws to stop it.
The Senate committee on environment, natural resources and climate change chaired by Sen. Cynthia Villar also decided to reset its hearing scheduled today to Jan. 11, said Maria Clarinda Mendoza, committee secretary.
The panel was supposed to tackle the establishment of protected areas in the province of Masbate, and the reclassification of land of the public domain in Bayambang, Pangasinan into agricultural land open to disposition.
The Sandiganbayan has imposed a three-day work suspension from January 4 to 6 after mandatory antigen tests administered to employees onsite showed 12 were positive for COVID-19.
Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang issued a memorandum last January 3 notifying all anti-graft court personnel that antigen testing will resume on January 7.
She also ordered disinfection of all offices concerned and the conduct of a “comprehensive contact tracing” to be supervised by the court’s medical section.
The work suspension was approved by Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo.
Tang, however, said urgent matters requiring onsite presence of an employee will be allowed but only at the discretion of the concerned justice or head of office.
Before the suspension, the Sandiganbayan had already announced it has resumed operations for the year albeit on a skeleton staff basis with 50 to 60 percent manpower reporting with the rest on a work from home status.
This was part of the court’s risk management measure following the declaration of Alert Level 3 in Metro Manila from January 3 to 15, 2021 due to the increasing number of COVID cases.
However, the court said a few workers will still report on Saturdays to attend to urgent matters for resolution including bail applications. — With Peter Tabingo
