‘House to have quorum next week’

MANILA, Philippines - Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. expressed confidence yesterday that the House of Representatives would be able to muster a quorum next week.

He said he and other leaders of the chamber would remind their colleagues of the need to attend sessions.

“Yes, we’re reminding them. We are confident of a quorum next week,” he said in a text message in response to reporters’ queries.

Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II has attributed the thinning attendance in the House to “election fever,” referring to the May 2013 congressional-local elections, which are still five months away.

Rep. Sherwin Tugna of the party-list group Citizens Battle Against Corruption said one of the duties of a House member is to attend the chamber’s plenary sessions, which are held only from Monday to Wednesday.

The elections next year are not a “valid excuse to be absent and to be remiss in our duties as lawmakers,” Tugna said.

“The whole nation is watching us whether we would be able to pass the important laws we promised to pass. It would be terrible and sad to have to look into every citizen’s eye and make excuses for not being able to approve important bills,” he said.

Tugna reminded his colleagues of their duty to be present in every session in the wake of the failure of the House to gather enough attendance from Monday to Wednesday this week, preventing it from taking up important measures.

He urged them to set aside politicking until January and show “political maturity” so they could approve pending bills.

Tugna said that although the campaign period has yet to start, many of his colleagues are already on campaign mode.

“We have to act on important bills while there is still time,” he said.