Sotto defends Bayanihan Law after constitutionality challenged

Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday defended the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, which Congress passed in a marathon session last March to expedite the government's COVID-19 response.

This was after a former law dean of the Laguna State Polytechnic University challenged the legislative measure before the Supreme Court.

"We did not pick the Act out of thin air. We were supported by the best legal minds available to us. So, I'm confident the Supreme Court will see the point of Congress," Sotto said in a message.

"By the way, by the time the SC discusses it, the law would have expired," he added.

The petition filed by lawyer Jaime Ibañez at the SC on Tuesday states that the law is unconstitutional for granting the president legislative authority to exercise power "other than what is necessary and proper to carry out the declared national policy."

He said the phrase "for other purposes" in the law constitutes an undue delegation of power.

The Bayanihan Law was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on March 25. The measure allowed him to exercise additional powers to curb the spread of COVID-19. It was given an effectivity of three months.

The Senate is currently tackling a second Bayanihan law, the proposed Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, to help foster economic recovery amid the pandemic. — BM, GMA News