Sotto: Congress timeline on passage of bill amending oil deregulation law 'tight'

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan — Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday said the timeline of Congress in passing the bill reviewing the oil deregulation law is “tight.”

Sotto made the remark after the House Committee on Energy approved the proposed measure amending the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act on Tuesday morning.

JUST IN: Aprubado na sa House Committee on Energy “subject to form and style” ang substitute bill ng mga panukalang nagsusulong ng amyenda sa Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998. @dzbb
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— Isa Avendaño-Umali (@Isa_Umali) March 15, 2022

“Masikip. Ganun yun,” Sotto said in an ambush interview after their town hall meeting with various Ilocano sectors.

(It’s tight. That's how it is.)

Senator Panfilo Lacson also explained that the approved bill was only passed at the committee level and it needs to be reported out for plenary deliberations.

Despite the tightness of the schedule of Congress, Lacson said lawmakers should look at the urgency of the measure.

“Tignan natin kung gaano ka-urgent ang pagpasa. Kung kailangan ipasa,” he said in the same interview.

(Let’s see how urgent this is. We should assess if we need to pass this measure.)

Congress adjourned session last February 4 and will only resume session by May 23 or after the May 9 national and local elections.

Congress, however, can resume session if President Rodrigo Duterte calls for it.

In an interview on ANC, Acting Cabinet Secretary Melvin Matibag on Tuesday said it is already time for Congress to look at the oil deregulation law, following the steep increase in the prices of fuel with the global supplies hit by the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Matibag said the Department of Energy and the Department of Finance are set to discuss with Duterte on Tuesday night the call to suspend the fuel excise tax following the oil price hikes implemented weekly.

The Palace official also disclosed that Duterte has mentioned the possibility of calling for an emergency session of Congress as some legislation is needed to address the problem.

Lacson and Sotto visited Tuguegarao City on Tuesday and conducted a consultative meeting with various stakeholders.

Prior to their meeting, the tandem paid a courtesy call on Tuguegarao City Mayor Jefferson Soriano. Soriano is a member of the Nationalist People's Coalition which is chaired by Sotto.

Cagayan, considered part of the so-called "Solid North," has 760,234 registered voters for Eleksyon 2022. Of the said number, 94,019 are from Tuguegarao. —KG, GMA News