Speaker Lord Allan Velasco has filed a resolution urging the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to create a unified contact tracing protocol to help address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaker Lord Allan Velasco
(Lord Allan Velasco’s Office / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Authored by Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, House Bill 8628 or the proposed Bayanihan to Arise As One Act has won solid backing from 162 members of the House supermajority, minority and independent blocs.
Lawmakers manifested their support amid criticisms hurled by former Speaker and Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano against HB 8628 which Velasco co-authored with Marikina City Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo.
Cayetano said the Velasco-Quimbo proposal “might not be approved in time to help those who need it the most,” referring to thousands of Filipinos who lost their jobs or were displaced economically by the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Published February 8, 2021, 5:30 PM
The government may seek the passage of a third Bayanihan law if its current funds would not be sufficient for pandemic response and recovery efforts, Malacañang said Monday.
Plenty supplies of fish being sold at Trabajo Market is seen as pork vendors declare pork holiday on the first day of implementation of price ceiling on pork and poultry products (JANSEN ROMERO / MANILA BULLETIN)
For the moment, however, the government has tapped the 2021 national budget and the Bayanihan 2 law to bankroll measures to address the country’s health emergency and enhance economic recovery, according to Presidential spokesman Harry Roque.
Former House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano
(PCOO / MANILA BULLETIN / FILE PHOTO)
In a press statement, Cayetano said House Bill 8628 or the proposed Bayanihan to Arise as One Act (Bayanihan 3) authored by Velasco “might not be approved in time to help those who need it the most.”
Cayetano also took a jab at Velasco’s bid to prioritize Charter change moves which the Lower House Committee on Constitutional Amendments did when it adopted last week Resolution of Both Houses 02.
“This is precisely why we asked that we focus on what is important, #AyudaHindiChacha, so that we can give the best solutions to the problems facing the nation without any distractions,” he said.
Was the Constitution violated when Speaker Lord Allan Velasco failed to include an impeachment complaint in the Order of Business within ten days from its filing in the House of Representatives?
Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen
This question surfaced Monday after regular session