THE House Committee on Energy approved a motion that would formally request President Rodrigo Duterte to call a “special session” for Congress.
This is to discuss and hopefully pass House Bill 10488 or the proposed measure to suspend or lower the excise tax for petroleum products, including amendments of the Oil Deregulation Law and other related measure.
During the hearing of the House Committee on Energy about the amendments to the Oil Deregulation Law, House Deputy Minority Leader Carlos Isagani Zarate this is an important opportunity to discuss these measures even if Congress is on break.
But even if the committee was quick to have the measures approved, Zarate insisted that these will all go to waste if a special session cannot be held in Congress. There is also a need to have House Bill 10488 be certified as “urgent.”
House Committee on Energy chairman Rep. Mikey Arroyo agreed on this, saying nothing will happen to these House bills if there is no special session.
This was where Zarate filed a motion with the committee to have a “special call” to make President Duterte officially call for a special session to have the measures discussed and approved the soonest.
The motion was then adopted by the committee, with the hope that the president will immediately call for a special session.