MANILA, Philippines - Pangasinan Rep. Marcos Cojuangco said yesterday he would bring the issue of the lack of quorum at the House of Representatives last Wednesday to the Supreme Court.
“I’m in the process of consulting with some lawyers. If I do not find remedies in the House, I will elevate this issue to the Supreme Court. They (House leaders) did not have the right to prevent us from holding session and doing our work,” he told The STAR.
Speaker Prospero Nogales ruled out yesterday the possibility of Congress holding a special session to push for the legislative agenda of President Arroyo after Congress formally adjourned session yesterday.
In a news forum at the Hotel Rembrandt in Quezon City, Nograles told reporters that at this point, it will be hard, if not impossible, to call congressmen to attend a special session.
“I need 131 warn bodies to hold a special session and in my experience as a congressman it would be hard to mobilize such numbers,” he said.
Cojuangco questioned the decision of Deputy Speaker Eric Singson, who presided over the last House session on Wednesday night, to declare an adjournment after only 91 of the 267 members of the chamber responded to the roll call.
He angrily protested the roll call result, telling Singson that he counted at least 138 members in the session hall.
“Mr. Speaker, we have a quorum, we have a quorum! Why are you subverting our right to have a session?” the usually calm Cojuangco shouted repeatedly, to the astonishment of his colleagues.
He nearly collapsed from anger before taking his seat. The medical staff had to be brought in to check his blood pressure, which, according to Iloilo Rep. Jeanette Garin, who is a medical doctor, had shot up to 210/120.
The son of billionaire businessman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. is the author of a bill that seeks to revive the mothballed Bataan nuclear power plant, which he has been defending before his colleagues for months before Wednesday’s adjournment.
He wanted the approval of the measure to be his legacy as a lawmaker. He is ending his nine years in Congress on June 30.
He has been pushing for the revival of the nuclear plan to boost the country’s energy supply, which he said would be short of the country’s requirement in a few years’ time.
Commenting on Cojuangco’s plan to elevate the quorum issue to the Supreme Court, Nograles said the Pangasinan lawmaker is within his right to do so.
He said the Wednesday adjournment was “beyond my control.”
“The roll call showed there was no quorum. That’s not subject to a recount. Not subject to an appeal. Not subject to reconsideration. Only secretary-general and staff can count actual warm bodies on the floor,” he said.
Cojuangco said “intramurals” among House leaders prevented congressmen from proceeding with their last session before their four-month election break. He did not go into specifics. – With Perseus Echeminada