3 solons to miss last sessions in favor of confab in Geneva

Three senators led by Senate President Pro Tempore Blas Ople will miss the last week of session of the Senate to attend a conference of the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.

Ople, however, stressed that the absence of the three senators would not adversely affect the passage of priority measures before Congress adjourns its second regular session on June 8.

"We have already agreed in a caucus that there would always be a quorum in every session," Ople said.

Joining Ople to Geneva are Senators Renato Cayetano and Anna Dominique Coseteng. Senators Rodolfo Biazon and Robert Jaworski were also supposed to join the contingent to Geneva but they backed off at the last minute.

"Perhaps they have other foreign travels," Ople explained.

Ople said the chamber would pass the measure restructuring the energy sector. The restructuring of the energy sector includes amending the law creating the Energy Regulatory Board.

Sen. John Osmena, chairman of the Senate committee on energy, said that the powers of the ERB must be amended to make it relevant under a regime of deregulated oil industry.

The ERB will be renamed, and it would confine itself to regulating electric power.

Osmena and Ople said that a companion bill privatizing the National Power Corp. (Napocor) would not be approved by the chamber before June 8.

"We would not be able to pass the bill privatizing the Napocor because of the problem of stranded cost," Ople said. "We have agreed in a caucus to tackle the measure in August."

Aside from the power bills, the Senate will also discuss in its last four session days the proposed Safeguards Act of 2000 to protect industries and products from import surges, the proposed absentee voting scheme, and the bicameral conference committee report on the proposed New Securities Act.