No Senate session until March 24 as chamber returns to lockdown

The Senate will not be holding sessions on Monday and Tuesday next week as the chamber was placed under lockdown again amid the continued threat of COVID-19.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III made the announcement on Wednesday during the plenary session of the chamber.

According to the Senate leader, the Senate building will be on lockdown beginning Wednesday night, March 17, until Tuesday, March 23.

The session will resume on Wednesday, March 24, the last session day before Congress goes on a break until May 16.

The Senate was supposed to end its session at 6 p.m. to allow its employees to avoid the curfew imposed in Metro Manila amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

But Sotto said they had to extend their session to allow for local measures to be delivered since the Senate will be on lockdown in the next few days.

"We have to declare a lockdown from tonight until Tuesday evening. That is the reason why we have to accommodate these local bills that have been languishing in the Senate for quite some time already," he said.

"If we don't do anything now, we will not be able to take it up next week," he added.

According to Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, there are 24 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among the chamber's personnel, while in the neighboring building of the Government Service Insurance System, there are 80 confirmed cases.

Sotto said committees may push through with holding their hearings while the Senate is on lockdown, so long as they are done virtually. No individual will be allowed inside the Senate building during the lockdown, he added.

The Senate also did not hold session on Tuesday, March 16, as the chamber had to be placed under "complete lockdown."

This was after members of the bills and index office, essential staff in matters being deliberated in the plenary, are under quarantine.

Senate Secretary Atty. Myra Marie Villarica also said in an advisory that the executive lounge and the canteen will be temporarily closed for 14 days starting Monday after three employees of the chamber's in-house caterer tested positive for COVID-19.

Employees have since been advised to bring their own food while the canteen is closed.—LDF, GMA News