House ready to resume session after ECQ, tackle 2022 budget –Velasco

The House of Representatives on Sunday said it would resume plenary sessions after a two-week suspension due to the enhanced community quarantine in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Starting Monday, August 23, House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said the House will "work double-time" on pending measures.

Velasco said they were also anticipating the submission of the National Expenditure Program (NEP), which contains the proposed P5.024 trillion national budget for 2022.

Once Congress received the NEP, the House Committee on Appropriations, chaired by ACT-CIS Partylist Representative Eric Yap, will start budget deliberations as soon as possible.

“We are ready to carry out our constitutional duty of carefully scrutinizing the NEP and eventually pass a national budget that is truly reflective and responsive to the needs of Filipinos as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on people’s lives and the economy,” Velasco said in a press statement.

House Secretary-General Mark Mendoza issued a memorandum that allows the lower chamber to continue plenary sessions on August 23 under a hybrid platform.

Furthermore, sessions will be held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. with only the "Speaker or his duly designated deputies; the Majority Leader and Minority Leader or their respective representatives; and a limited number of Secretariat personnel physically present inside the session hall."

The remaining members of the House of Representatives will attend the session through videoconference. — DVM, GMA News