Only 15% regularly attend House plenary sessions

MANILA, Philippines – Only 43 of the 283 members of the House of Representatives or about 15% have been religiously attending plenary sessions of the 15th Congress in their first 6 months in office.

This is based on records released by Speaker Sonny Belmonte for the 45 plenary session days from July 26 to December 15. Plenary sessions are scheduled at 4 p.m. from Mondays to Wednesdays.

Unlike committee hearings with small groups of congressmen, plenary sessions are where the House, as a whole, acts on pending business.

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s youngest son, Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado Ignacio “Dato” Arroyo, and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, are among the 43.

The others are:

Pedro Acharon,
Romeo Acop,
Emmeline Aglipay,
Rodolfo Albano Jr.,
Tomas Apacible,

Amado Bagatsing,
Bolet Banal,
Pidi Barzaga,
Leopoldo Bataoil,
Imelda Calixto-Rubiano,

Winston Castelo,
Jane Castro,
Enrique Cojuangco,
Maximo Dalog,
Raul Daza,

Rachel del Mar,
Salvador Escudero III,
Ben Evardone,
Erico Fabian,
Rodolfo Fariñas,

Salvio Fortuno,
Albert Garcia,
Roilo Golez,
Agapito Guanlao,
Nur Jaafar,

David Kho,
Edcel Lagman,
Budoy Madrona,
Neil Montejo,
Florencio Noel,

Angelo Palmones,
Rene Relampagos,
Rufus Rodriguez,
Herminia Roman,
Jesus Sacdalan,

Raden Sakaluran,
Cesar Sarmiento,
Mel Sarmiento,
Marcelino Teodoro,
Neil Tupas,
Joey Zubiri.

Fariñas said: “It has been doing better as borne out by several other members having a perfect attendance and that we’ve been having quorum without any problem. More so, we have successfully passed the GAA [General Appropriations Act] and concurred with the amnesty. I’m confident the House will get better after only 5 months in session.”

Arroyo said, “Thanks. I’m just doing what I did last Congress. I’m sure the other representatives have valid reasons. We each have our own methods, but the important thing is we all get the job done.”

Golez said, “I have maintained perfect attendance since my first day as congressman in 1992. It’s now my 6th term. 43 is practically just a little over 1/6th of [House] membership. Of course, we can do better.”

Speaker won’t disclose absentees

When pressed about the rest of the House members, specifically the list of the top absentees, Belmonte refused to release data, and said it will be up to the House media to look for that.

Belmonte did say that the average daily attendance of members in plenary is about 78%.

Belmonte did say that he signed some travel authorities for former president, now Pampanga 2nd district Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Busy committees

Belmonte also listed the following house committees as those with most number of hearings, excluding Rules and Appropriations committees: Transportation (15), Ways and Means (12), and Energy  (11).

The rules committee met 18 times, while the appropriations committee met 55 times over the course of the 2011 budget deliberations.

The 2011 budget was among the achievements of his first 6 months in office, which Belmonte noted to the media.

So far, 4,697 bills and resolutions have been filed: 3,916 are bills, 781 are resolutions, 8 concurrent resolutions, and 13 joint resolutions. Twenty-one bills are on 3rd reading, 6 on 2nd reading, 61 resolutions adopted and 3 concurrent resolutions adopted, including the amnesty concurrence resolution.

Belmonte hopes to tackle more in January when he expects the executive to submit its  legislative agenda.

Belmonte nominated Majority leader Boyet Gonzales, Minority leader Edcel Lagman, and Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III as members to the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).

House priorities

So far, among the HOR’s priorities are legislation on the K+12 program, amendments to the anti-trust law, amendments to the BOT [Build-Operate-Transfer] law, amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act, and the reproductive health (RH) bill.

Belmonte said the RH bills have been referred to a technical working group.

Belmonte said there will be no pressure on congressmen when it comes to RH.  “As I said, what we’re trying to do is we’re not trying to bottom-hole people…We’re now 283. Each of this have definite opinions. I would like to give them a chance to be heard. “

Pending bills

The following are some of the pending bills:

On 3rd reading:

Committee Report (CR) 304: Protection of students’ right to enroll in review centers act of 2010

CR 303 Providing for a longer period for the rectification of simulated births

CR 339 Rationalizing the Board of Regents of the Partido State University

CR 294 Authorizing the Court to require community service in lieu of imprisonment for the penalty of arresto menor

CR 293 adjusting the rate subsidiary imprisonment to one day for an amount equivalent to the daily minimum wage of a laborer in the NCR

CR 298 Giving offender the fullest benefit of preventive imprisonment, amending for the purpose article 29 of the Revised Penal Code

CR 148 amending RA 8491 (the Flag and Heraldic Code)

On 2nd reading

CR 422 strengthening the Philippine Public Safety College

CR 387 institutionalizing kindergarten education

CR 386 establishing a Philippine High School for Sports
–RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News