Congress will resume sessions on May 4 to tackle pending legislation, many of which involve the easing of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the people and the economy, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said Wednesday.
He says the people have been reeling under the six-week-old lockdown euphemistically called “Enhanced Community Quarantine.”
Rep. Ronnie Ong said the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office should help generate funds that could be used in the fight against COVID-19.
He said funds were needed to support the millions of Filipinos who had lost their livelihood because of the Enhanced Community Quarantine.
Cayetano said he talked with Senate President Vicente Sotto III and they agreed to convene on May 4.
“If we are still on ECQ, we will have to convene electronically just like we did in the Bayanihan Act,” Cayetano said.
“We will hold sessions to pass important legislation even if we have to meet up to the wee hours of the morning.”
Cayetano said he hoped the congressmen would have more time studying the pending bills “like in the US, [where] it took them several days to tackle their economic stimulus program but it was still not enough. We will continue to be relevant and will do our part in helping the Filipinos survive these trying times.”
While on lockdown, Congress was able to pass the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, the law that gave the President additional authority to combat COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Ong, vice chairman of the House Games and Amusement Committee, said after the PCSO shut down its operations, it also stopped generating the funds to help shore up the government's capacity to respond to the health crisis.
"Although the PCSO really has no choice but to shut down its land-based lottery activities such as the Sweepstakes, Scratch-it and Small Town Lottery, it can continue to conduct business by launching secure and fraud-free interactive mobile lottery games," Ong said.
Ong says the government has been losing at least P3.75 billion a month, or P125 million a day since the PCSO decided to stop operations in light of the ECQ that was declared in March by President Rodrigo Duterte.
It is estimated that the PCSO makes at least P15 billion to P16 billion every quarter from its various lottery operations. But the absence of regulated and legal operations has allowed illegal and unregulated gambling to multiply and prosper.
"Even if we can only generate half of the P3.75-billion monthly revenues of the PCSO, we will be able to provide adequate relief for many communities—especially in those areas that are on full lockdown,” Ong said.
“Let us be realistic about the ECQ. Most of the people take their chances outside their homes because they have no food to eat.”