Finally, House musters quorum

MANILA, Philippines - After days of trying, the House of Representatives finally managed yesterday to gather enough warm bodies to muster a quorum for its session.

A 5 p.m. roll call showed that 178 of the 266 members of the chamber were present.

More than 80 were absent, including about 50 who watched the Pacquiao-Hatton fight in Las Vegas, Nevada last weekend and who are still in the United States, and those accompanying President Arroyo on her visit to Egypt and Syria.

Shortly after the presiding officer, Deputy Speaker Raul del Mar, declared the presence of a quorum, Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla rose to complain that the early birds among congressmen always have to wait for one hour or longer for their colleagues to arrive.

He said the rules of the House provide that sessions should start at 4 p.m. with the singing of the national anthem, followed by a short prayer and then the roll call.

“In other Congresses in which I was a member, we started work at 4 p.m. as required by the rules. Here, we waste at least one hour to have a quorum. Let’s change our rules so we won’t be wasting precious time,” he said.

Padilla is one of the few House members who make it a point to be in the session hall at 4 p.m. and to sit it out until adjournment time. Another is Edno Joson of Nueva Ecija.

Like Padilla, Sorsogon Rep. Salvador Escudero III suggested that the rules be revised.

“I am suggesting that the quorum requirement be changed from 50 percent of all members plus to 50 members plus one so we won’t have quorum problems,” he said.

Majority Leader Arthur Defensor agreed with Padilla that in previous Congresses, plenary session started on time.

“But that was because the minority allowed us to start on time, except in a few instances. In the present Congress, the minority insists that we muster a quorum before we tackle business,” he said.

Defensor said since the start of the 14th Congress, sessions always opened at 4 p.m. with the singing of the national anthem, followed by a prayer and then a break of one hour or longer.

“This has happened consistently. That’s why I am recommending to the Speaker that we take a second look at this practice,” he said.

Paranaque Rep. Roilo Golez, who is a deputy minority leader, protested the tone of Defensor’s statement about the minority insisting on the presence of a quorum.

“This is not an imposition on the majority. This is a requirement of the rules,” he said.

Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora said the House would not be discussing quorum-related issues had it implemented the electronic and biometric roll call and voting project of former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and Speaker Prospero Nograles.

Defensor said a technical committee is now fine-tuning the system “and we hope to start using it when we begin our (third regular) session in July.”