When the chamber finally mustered a quorum yesterday afternoon since floor debates on the 2002 budget opened last week, Deputy Speaker for Visayas Raul Gonzalez ordered the sergeant-at-arms to close all exits.
He then announced to the 140 or so congressmen in the session hall that no one should leave "except for personal reasons," like going to the bathroom.
It was the first time in the history of the post-martial law Congress that the House leadership resorted to its coercive power to ensure a quorum.
Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II told reporters that the decision to keep members from leaving the session hall "was a consensus of both the majority and the minority."
"That was a reasonable measure. Otherwise, the leadership would have been forced to use its power to order the arrest of any member to obtain a quorum, or we would have adjourned," he said.
Rep. Edmundo Reyes Jr. (Lakas, Marinduque) did not agree with the measure taken by the presiding officers.
"We are not young children who should be kept from leaving their classroom. We should know our duties, and one of them is to attend our sessions," he said.
Besides, he said the sergeant-at-arms could not really enforce Deputy Speaker Gonzalez’s order.
Opposition Rep. Didagen Dilangalen of Maguindanao called attention to the fact that the expanded committee on appropriations that is sponsoring the 2002 budget is composed of 155 members.
If at least 125 of the committee members attend the daily debates on the measures of which they are the sponsors, there will always be a quorum, said Dilangalen.
Last Friday, in a closed-door caucus called by Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., members of his Sunshine Coalition promised that they would attend the sessions.
However, several hours after the caucus, Minority Leader Carlos Padilla (LDP, Nueva Vizcaya) noticed that members in the session hall did not constitute a quorum, prompting the presiding officer to adjourn the session.
Padilla said the majority failed to deliver on its promise that a sufficient number of members would be present.
The House was to resume debates on the budget at 10 a.m. yesterday. When the session opened at 11:30 a.m., there was no quorum.
The minority bloc, however, allowed the session to go on provided that only the appropriations of minor agencies such as the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board were tackled.
Some government officials, who had been asked to be in the session hall in case congressmen had questions about their budgets, complained that they have been attending the budget deliberations since last week.
"Wala naman kaming ginagawa dito, sayang lang ang oras namin. Hindi pa nasasalang ang budget namin (We are just wasting our time here. They have not taken up our budget)," one official said.
Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin is doing her share to ensure the presence of a quorum and expedite the approval of the proposed P781-billion 2002 budget.
She has promised House members that her agency would release the special allotment and release orders (SAROs) for their projects before the week is over.
Some congressmen said the SAROs were due in September and last month but have not been issued.