By Eunice Samonte
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Tuesday urged President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to call for a special session of Congress to swiftly pass the necessary measures that will give emergency cash subsidies to vulnerable households and beef up the government’s dwindling pandemic war chest.
“I urge the President to call a special session of Congress to pass the proposed Bayanihan 3 [bill] and expand the government’s cash subsidy program amid the spike in COVID-19 cases,” Drilon said in an interview on radio station DZRH.
He also called for the realignment of some items in the General Appropriations Act to boost the pandemic fund, citing as examples the P19 billion anti-insurgency fund and the P9.5 billion for confidential and intelligence funds.
Article VI, Section 15 of the Constitution allows the President to call a special session at any time.
The government has extended a lockdown on Metro Manila and four nearby provinces for another week, due to an alarming spike in COVID-19 cases that some health experts predict will reach one million by the end of April.
Drilon said there is a need to provide more funding for the government’s pandemic aid program in order to help the poor and other vulnerable sectors of society, as well as small and medium enterprises heavily affected by the pandemic.
“Kailangan tugunan ito. Sa akin, kailangang tumawag ng special session ang Pangulo para po matugunan ito. Mag-realign ng mga items na hindi kailangan [This needs to be addressed. From my point of view, the President needs to call for a special session (of Congress) to address this, and realign the items that are unnecessary],” he said.
The minority leader said the Senate is always prepared to hold a special session in order to pass legislation to alleviate the suffering of the poor. Congress is on a break until May 17.
