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MANILA, Philippines – Albay 1st District Representative Edcel Lagman believes President Rodrigo Duterte should “modify his call” for a special four-day session of Congress and extend it to four more days.
In a statement, Lagman said that while he welcomes Duterte’s call for a special session scheduled for Oct. 13-16, he said the “short period” may not secure the second and third approvals of the proposed 2021 national budget. .
With this, Lagman added that an additional period of four days, from October 19 to 22, is “necessary so that the committee and the individual amendments to the appropriation measure can be considered and approved by the plenary before the second reading” .
“More time is required for the bill for second reading approval to already include the committee and individual amendments that must be proposed and approved in plenary session,” Lagman said.
“The long tradition of a ‘small committee’ that makes amendments after the approval of the budget bill in second reading must be abandoned to ensure transparency in the procedures that is not achieved with the furtive conclave of the small panel,” he added . .
It was on Friday that Malacañang announced that Duterte called an extraordinary session of Congress to avoid delays in the approval of the budget project.
Duterte also certified next year’s national budget legislation as urgent, said Palace spokesman Harry Roque.
A day before this, Duterte threatened to take matters into his own hands and settle the uproar in the House of Representatives as the dispute between the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alan Peter Cayetano, and the representative of Marinduque, Lord Allan Velasco , threatens the timely approval of the budget. .
On October 6, Cayetano and his allies suddenly moved to end House sessions until November 16 after passing the proposed 2021 spending measure on second reading.
With the lower house session suspended until November 16 and the budget bill passed only on second reading, the proposed spending legislation for 2021 will not reach the Senate before it goes into recess on October 17.
/ MUF
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