Legislative process may complicate proposed abolition of Road Board – Sotto

Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Thursday said Congress may complicate legislative processes should it push the convening of a Bicameral Conference Committee for the proposed abolition of the controversial Road Board.

Sotto, in a news forum in the Senate, raised the possibility as he reiterated that the Senate already approved the House of Representative's bill abolishing the agency and in effect, dispenses the need for a bicameral meeting since "there are no more disagreeing provisions."

"We have to be technical about it, we have adopted it (House version). If we go into a Bicam that would mean that we will have to pass again a motion on the floor recalling our previous motion which was already approved," Sotto said.

The Senate chief said he shares the sentiment of some colleagues in the Chamber. He noted, though, that Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri wants to cooperate with the House on the issue. Senators will meet on Monday to decide collectively on the matter, Sotto said.

The Senate approved Senate Bill 1620 seeking the abolition of the Road Board, on February 12, 2018. The House passed its counterpart House Bill (HB) 7436 on May 15, 2018.

Last September 12, the Senate adopted the Lower Chamber's House Bill 7436 to speed up the dissolution of the graft-ridden agency.

The Senate chief, however, said his colleagues would still have to review whether or not they can recall the adoption of the House bill especially that it has been almost four months since its adoption.

Sotto said that under Senate rules, members only have three days to file a motion for reconsideration against an approval or adoption of a bill.

While he respected the House's prerogative, the Senate chief questioned why it took four months for congressmen to rescind the third reading passage of their HB 7436.

If a bicam is convened, Sotto also stressed that congressmen cannot introduce new amendments to their House bill.

"If it is not contained in the Senate version, and it is not contained in the original House version, we cannot legally take it up in the Bicam. That is the SOP (standard operating procedure), we cannot introduce anything new into the Bicam," he said.

He noted that the 17th Congress has only one month before adjourning for the elections season on February, and another one month in May before closing on June.