Congressional Record O H Th PLENARY PROCEEDINGS of the 18 CONGRESS, SECOND REGULAR SESSION 1 P 907 H S ILIPPINE House of Representatives
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
PRE RE SE F N O T A E T S I V U E S Congressional Record O H th PLENARY PROCEEDINGS OF THE 18 CONGRESS, SECOND REGULAR SESSION 1 P 907 H S ILIPPINE House of Representatives Vol. 1 Monday, July 27, 2020 No. 1 OPENING OF THE Use us, O Lord, to be an instrument of SECOND REGULAR SESSION hope, and a source of needed relief and encouragement for our people. CALL TO ORDER Amidst divisiveness, help us to be an instrument of unity. When resources are At 10:00 a.m., Speaker Alan Peter “Compañero” wanting, help us to share from our own, S. Cayetano called the session to order. knowing that they are Yours, and that we are only stewards of Your blessings. THE SPEAKER. Honorable Members of Faced with this dreadful COVID-19 the House of Representatives, today is the pandemic, aggravated by our individualities, fourth Monday of July 2020. The Constitution and confronted by the gargantuan task mandates that Congress convene once of continuously building and rebuilding every year on the fourth Monday of July to this country, help us go back to our old commence its regular session. values of pagtutulungan, pagmamalasakit, I hereby call the Second Regular Session of at pagbabayanihan. And faced with our the Eighteenth Congress to order. differences, may we be reminded of the Please rise for the Invocation to be delivered value of paggalang at respeto sa kapwa, by the Hon. Maria Laarni “Lani” Cayetano, that we may finally be united as one nation Representative of the Second District of Taguig. of brothers and sisters, in which no one is so poor as not to have the capacity to share Everybody rose for the Invocation. and no one is so rich as not to receive Your blessings. INVOCATION May we be concerned and conscientious of our duties and responsibilities as Filipinos, REP. CAYETANO (M.). Our heavenly and proud and grateful of our inheritance as a loving Father, we come to You with contrite people. Let Your merciful love set the tone for hearts, pleading for Your forgiveness and mercy. the renewal of our conviction to be of service Cleanse us, O Lord. Remove in our hearts to Your people so that we may heal as one and minds anything that will hinder our nation under God. prayers from coming to You. Finally, search us, O God, and know our As we begin the Second Regular Session hearts, try us and know our thoughts, and see of the Eighteenth Congress, we pray for Your if there be any wicked way in us; and lead us guidance. in the way everlasting. We ask for Your wisdom and understanding, This we ask through the mighty name of and even the courage to do what is right to Jesus Christ, our Lord. legislate measures that are most needed by Amen. our suffering people. Lord, You have blessed us with our NATIONAL ANTHEM positions and allowed us to be in Congress at these trying and challenging times. THE SPEAKER. Amen. 2 Congressional Record • 18th Congress 2RS v.1 MONDAY, JULY 27, 2020 Please remain standing for the singing of a reality if, as a spiritual people, we continue the Philippine National Anthem. to fight corruption in all areas of society, and pray for guidance as we try to do what is Everybody remained standing for the singing of the right—gawin ang tama—in a world where Philippine National Anthem. doing wrong can be so convenient and well- rewarded. THE SPEAKER. Majority Leader. Sadly, while the decade of success has shown us how high we can go, it also exposed REP. ROMUALDEZ (F.). The honorable our vulnerability to natural disasters like the Speaker will address the assembly this COVID-19 or the new coronavirus pandemic. It morning. showed us that the metrics used by our society for success—money, power, position—are REMARKS OF THE SPEAKER not only irrelevant in dealing with this crisis, they can at times even be a distraction and a THE SPEAKER. In Psalm 127, we are told hindrance to finding the right connection with that “Unless the Lord builds the house, those the people in finding solutions. who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord At this time, when the whole world is watches over the city, the watchman stays facing a crisis unprecedented in scale, at least awake in vain.” during our lifetime, the Filipino people expect These words are brought to life as we read that we, their elected Representatives will in the Preamble of the Philippine Constitution, speak with all honesty, candor, and humility; and attempt to build a country dedicated to God. and this is what the situation demands. “We, the sovereign Filipino people, The enormity of the challenges and severity imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to of the crisis we face require much faith, build a just and humane society and establish sacrifice, and hard work not just from our a Government that shall embody our ideals leaders, but from each and everyone of us. This and aspirations, promote the common good, is not the time to be unclear as to the intentions conserve and develop our patrimony, and of this House of the People. Instead, we must secure to ourselves and our posterity the speak frankly and truthfully, surely about our blessings of independence and democracy hopes and aspirations, but also—and perhaps under the rule of law and a regime of truth, more importantly—of our uncertainties justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do and fears that our people are facing. ordain and promulgate this Constitution.” We cannot sugarcoat the fact that our We affirm that Yes, the Filipino people way of life—what we once took for granted believe that with the aid of the Almighty, we as being normal—is completely, irrevocably, can build an amazing society, one filled with undeniably gone. It has forever been changed happiness and prosperity brought about by by this pandemic, and nothing we can do faith in God, hope for the future, and love for can bring it back. Everything from this point our fellowmen. on should no longer be about recapturing It is time to build, build relationships that the past—huwag na po natin habulin iyong are stronger than our disagreements, build kahapon—but acknowledging in humility our communities that are able to embrace our mistakes, surviving the present, and building differences, and to build a Filipino nation a greater future. A great future depends on it. united in its fight against this virus and every Humble ourselves, pray, discern, work hard. other challenge that we will face as a people But definitely we need a plan, we need a road and as a nation. map. If the past ten years of steady economic These are hard realities, I know. For growth have taught us anything, it is that our those of you who have lost loved ones, iyong nation can overcome whatever challenge is mga hindi man lang nakapagpaalam, lalo po placed before us, that the dream of economic doon sa biktima ng COVID na nasa isolation, parity with our Asian neighbors can easily be at lalo po sa inyo na nawalan ng trabaho, MONDAY, JULY 27, 2020 18th Congress 2RS v.1 • Congressional Record 3 na-stranded pa at hindi makauwi, I expect to lead us. And it is in them that my faith for that the very notion of someone telling you a better future firmly rests. Let us not delude to move on is in itself offensive and hurtful. ourselves with the thought that Congress is Wala po kaming masasabi that will not be “primus inter pares” or the first among equals. insensitive. But that is not our intention, it No, I am here to tell you that it is we—the is not our intention to just say move on, or Members of their House—who must rise to ignore the hurt that you are feeling. Please the occasion and fulfil the mandate that the believe us, your Representatives, when we Filipino people have entrusted to us; not just say we understand your grief. Most of us to represent them in these halls, but to truly be might not have actually felt it, but we also one with them in our hearts, in our minds, and have friends, relatives, and of course, our in our actions. Hindi po puwedeng sabihin na constituents who are suffering, and we see tayo ang VIP dahil tayo ay Representante nila. the suffering. And it is precisely because Baliktad po. Sila po ang VIP, at tayo po ang we know what you are going through that lalaban para sa kanilang interes. I cannot, in good conscience, stay silent on It is in this spirit that we need to move this. together as one nation, move faster, move Grave illnesses require bitter medicine. We united in our goal to protect the weakest cannot afford to be weak—not at this time, among us, and create a better way of life for and not with this virus. For this, I am eternally all Filipinos, not just for the privileged, the grateful that God, in His wisdom and mercy, rich, and the powerful. has granted us the leadership that the nation Just to put things into perspective, a needs during this crisis. As I take comfort in year ago I spoke before this Body with so the President’s firm but fatherly hand, I am much hope and confidence in our future. also supremely confident about the ability of The economy was booming, we were riding this great nation to endure the worst, as it has high on a strong electoral showing by the endured, overcome, and prospered in the past.