SENATE MAJORITY Leader Juan Miguel F. Zubiri appealed to Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon to consider reconvening the Bicameral Conference Committee for the Road Board abolition bill.
“I hope our good Minority Floor Leader would hear me out on this and I will call for an all-member caucus on Jan. 14 to discuss the proposal,” Mr. Zubiri told reporters over phone message, Thursday.
He explained that Senate had initially planned to convene the bicam committee, considering that the Senate version contained stricter provisions.
The chamber, however, was prompted to adopt House Bill No. 7436 upon learning that the House of Representatives was inclined to rescind the bill.
“We adopted the House version as a strategy to quickly approve the measure when we got wind of the plan of the House that they were not interested anymore in abolishing the corruption-riddled agency,” Mr. Zubiri said.
Mr. Drilon said in an earlier statement that there’s no basis in convening the committee, explaining that since the House version was adopted by the Senate, there are no disagreeing provisions that need to be reconciled.
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Danilo E. Suarez of the 3rd District of Quezon said the House still needs to settle the matter with the Senate, noting that Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has authority to recall the bill if it was not ratified before she assumed the speakership in July.
“Definitely, there must be an action on the part of the House, we have marching orders from Speaker (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) to recall it. We don’t want a head-on collision between the House and the Senate on this issue… It’s a question of timing,” Mr. Suarez said in a press briefing on Thursday. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

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