(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday, Oct. 9, called for a special session of Congress to ensure the passage of the proposed 2021 national budget.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the session will be held from Oct. 13 to 16, noting that the President, in the same proclamation No. 1027, had certified as urgent the proposed national budget of P4.5 trillion.
“Ginawa ito ng Presidente dahil importanteng maipasa, maisabatas ang proposed 2021 budget dahil ito po ang gagamitin natin laban sa COVID-19 pandemic,” Roque said.
President Duterte made the call after he warned the House of Representatives to resolve the impasse there “and pass the budget legally and constitutionally.”
“Pag hindi ninyo ginawa, ako ang gagawa para sa inyo,” the President had said.
He was referring to Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Marinduque Rep. Lord Velasco, who have been so far at odds over the speakership.
On Oct. 6, Cayetano suspended House hearings and forced an early break for House sessions until Nov. 16, with House Bill 7727 or the proposed P4.506 trillion national budget, only passed on second reading.
The official House calendar also showed that the break was supposed to start later, on Oct. 17.
The suspension came after Velasco supposedly told President Duterte in a meeting on Oct. 5 that he was running for the speakership on Oct. 14, as previously agreed upon in a “gentleman’s agreement” with Cayetano.
Under the gentleman’s agreement brokered by the President in July last year, Cayetano would serve as the Speaker for the first 15 months of the 18th Congress, to be followed by Velasco for the next 21 months.
Senate President Tito Sotto, for his part, said that while the Senate would not intervene in House “intramurals,” the Senate should receive the House’s version of the proposed national budget passed on third reading before the Senate break on Oct. 17.