Congress grants Duterte covid standby powers

MANILA, Philippines — Congress passed last night a bill declaring a state of national emergency that would give President Duterte “limited” powers to help contain the spread of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, who addressed the one-day session, said Duterte needed “standby powers” to speedily respond to the public health crisis.

The Senate and House of Representatives opened their separate sessions at 10 a.m. to tackle their nearly identical draft bills principally authored by Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, respectively. The House gave its imprimatur to the measure in an unprecedented online session.

The Senate was able to muster a quorum of 12 with Sotto, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, and Senators Pia Cayetano, Grace Poe, Sherwin Gatchalian, Christopher Go, Richard Gordon, Panfilo Lacson, Lito Lapid, Manny Pacquiao, Bong Revilla and Francis Tolentino. The rest, including members of the minority bloc, were either on self-quarantine or were locked out of Metro Manila, which is on an enhanced community quarantine.

Joining the Senate session as resource persons were Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista. In the House, a Committee of the Whole presided by Majority Leader Martin Romualdez approved House Bill 6616 declaring a national emergency and giving the government some powers “for a limited time and subject to restrictions.” The measure, entitled “Bayanihan Act of 2020,” authorizes the executive department to “realign, reallocate and reprogram” about P275 billion in this year’s national budget for purposes of combatting the global disease that has already claimed the lives of thousands.

Deputy Speaker LRay Villafuerte defended the measure on the floor, attended mostly by House officials led by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante, public accounts chairman Rep. Mike Defensor and several others. “We want to show the world there will be unprecedented cooperation between the executive and the legislative, that there will be unprecedented cooperation internationally, that you will see congressmen, governors and mayors working hand in hand,” the Speaker said. The special session was presided over by Deputy Speaker Raneo Abu of Batangas.

Villafuerte, a congressman from Camarines Sur, along with his colleague Rep. Eric Go Yap (ACT-CIS party-list) – chairman of the House committee on appropriations – reassured the public that government will not unreasonably take over private enterprises. “We will make sure that the 1987 Constitution is not violated. We believe that this bill is constitutionally sound,” Villafuerte said, explaining that powers to take over certain entities would only be exercised in the worst-case scenario or in the event of chaos.

“It (facility) will be turned over to them (owners) after the crisis,” said the Bicolano lawmaker in response to concerns raised by former health secretary and now Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin that a takeover of private hospitals, hotels and the like can have dangerous consequences. Villafuerte explained that there is a total of P275 billion in “available funds,” P200 billion of which would be allotted for a two-month quarantine for the most marginalized sectors of society or P8,000 per family.

The remaining P75 billion, he said, would be earmarked for “health and other services.” About 18 million households will get to benefit from cash grants and hazard pay. Villafuerte and Defensor (party-list Anakalusugan) also assuaged fears that emergency powers for President Duterte would be tantamount to martial law. They cited the martial law in Mindanao – declared by Duterte in the aftermath of the Marawi siege in 2017 – where “no recorded human rights violations” had been recorded.

“This government has a good track record like the martial law in Mindanao. We have to trust this government. They have to do their job expeditiously and without the usual problems of red tape in the procurement of equipment. Time is of the essence,” Villafuerte said. Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea told lawmakers in the special session that the “administration simply desires to be equipped with all the legal authorities necessary for us to serve our people during this crisis in the most expeditious way.” “The President and his administration has no intention at all to use these powers to its own advantage but only for our people’s advantage,” he told legislators.

“We therefore approach the distinguished members of Congress, the elected legislators of our people, to ask for a law that would enable the President, the executive branch, the legal authority to address this crisis, in a manner that is free from the restrictions, which, if beneficial during normal times, might prove disadvantageous during such an unusual time as this,” he said.

Source: philstar.com