Sen. Bong Go’s Attempt to Stop Bills Questioning Objected by Sen. Drilon
BONG GO – Senator Franklin Drilon objected to Sen. Christopher Go’s attempt to terminate the interpellation of bills during a session.
The Senate is one of the law-making bodies in the Philippine government. One of the things that bills have to go through before they will get the chance to be passed into laws is the interpellation or the questioning which takes place during a Senate session.
Recently, a session was held and Sen. Christopher Go stood for the interpellation. Based on a report on ABS-CBN News, the said 15 local bills have already passed the Congress and they aim to increase the bed capacity and upgrade the hospital facilities in the provinces.
Among the hospitals that are target of the bills were those in the municipalities of Naguilian and Rosario in La Union, Rizal in Palawan, and Sinait in Ilocos Sur. During the session, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon wanted to clarify with Sen. Bong Go the source of the funds for the hospitals.
Based on the report, Sen. Drilon stressed that there are hospitals that are under the local government while there are also bills that aim for the “renationalization” or the transferring of the hospitals under the LGU to the national government.
Senators Cynthia Villar and Pia Cayetano also joined the discussion which touched the “Mandanas Ruling”, the Supreme Court’s decision that combines the national taxes like the custom duties to the internal revenue allotment of the LGUs.
Sen. Villar stressed that next time it must be clarified if a hospital is LGU-operated or DOH-operated. Sen. Cayetano on her part expressed that the hospital must not be renationalize even without the Mandanas Ruling as “health is a devolved function”.
Based on the report, Sen. Bong Go attempted to terminate the interpellation and just proceed with the voting but Sen. Franklin Drilon objected it. He stressed that the closure is never pushed during debates.
“One of the traditions of Senate since time immemorial is that the closure is never invoked in the debates, never, never. There are legitimate issues that we raised, and this is principally involving the Mandanas ruling and its effect on the fiscal ability of this government to respond on these need,” the Senate Minority Leader said.
Sen. Go agreed to continue with the interpellation but the senators just decided to resume the senate deliberation on Tuesday. Sen. Drilon expressed his hope that the former aide of the President won’t again suspend a session for consultation.
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