BY RAYMOND AFRICA and JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
SENATE President Vicente Sotto III yesterday said there was no more need for President Duterte to certify as urgent the proposed Bayanihan 2 Act as the Senate is already set to approve it next week after Congress resumes.
The Senate has approved the measure on second reading before it adjourned sine die last June 4.
Yesterday, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Malacañang wants to fast track the approval of the proposed bill and that President Duterte will now certify it as urgent.
“Naririyan din po iyong Bayanihan 2 na sigurado ako na ise-certify as urgent. Iyong Bayanihan 2 naman po isa po iyan sa napaka-malakas na sandata na gagamitin para tayo po ay makabangon dito sa aberya ng COVID (Bayanihan 2 is there which I am sure will be certified as urgent. Bayanihan 2 is one of the strongest weapons that we can use recover from COVID),” he said.
Sotto said the move was too late and no longer necessary.
Sotto said there is no more need for a Malacañang certification since the Senate is set to approve the measure on third reading on Tuesday, anyway.
“It does not matter anymore. We are over the three-day rule already,” Sotto said, referring to the Senate version of the Bayanihan Act 2 which was passed on second reading before Congress went adjourned last month.
The proposed Bayanihan 2 Act, which is a follow-up measure to the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act which lapsed last June 25, includes a P140 billion economic stimulus package, budget for the hiring of 50,000 contact tracers and the improving of the contact tracing capability of government, and funding for other measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), among others.
The Palace did not certify the proposed measure as urgent, which was why Congress failed to pass it before it went into sine die adjournment last June 4.
The Senate was waiting for a certification from the Palace last June 4 for senators to pass the measure on third and final reading but nothing came.
Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, Senate finance committee chair, said the certification will speed up the approval of the measure “as the House can approve it on second and third reading on the same day if they wish to.”
