Journal of the Committee of the Whole House SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST REGULAR SESSION 2016 - 2017 Wednesday, May 31, 2017 Prepared by the JOURNAL SERVICE Plenary Affairs Bureau JOURNAL OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE HOUSE Wednesday, May 31, 2017 CALL TO ORDER Catamco Chavez At 9:00 a.m. of Wednesday, May 31, 2017, Chair- Chipeco person Rodolfo C. Fariñas called to order the meeting Co of the Committee of the Whole House. Cojuangco Cortuna NATIONAL ANTHEM AND PRAYER Cua Dalipe The Members then sang the National Anthem and Daza Representative Bai Sandra Sinsuat A. Sema led the in- De Jesus vocation. De Vera Defensor ROLL CALL Dimaporo (M.K.) Durano Dy On motion of Rep. Juan Pablo "Rimpy" P. Bon- Elago doc, there being no objection, the Chairperson di- Eriguel rected the Secretary General to call the Roll and the Escudero following Members were present: Fariñas Fernando Abu Ferrer (J.) Acosta Flores Acosta-Alba Garcia (G.) Aggabao Garcia (J.E.) Alejano Garcia-Albano Almonte Geron Alvarez (F.) Go (M.) Alvarez (P.) Gomez Antonio Gonzaga Aragones Gonzales (A.D.) Arcillas Gullas Arenas Hernandez Banal Hofer Bautista-Bandigan Kho Belmonte (J.C.) Lagman Benitez Laogan Bernos Lazatin Bertiz Lopez (B.) Biazon Madrona Billones Mangaoang Biron Marquez Bondoc Mendoza Bravo (A.) Nava Brosas Noel Bulut-Begtang Nograles (J.J.) Calderon Nograles (K.A.) Caminero Nolasco Campos Nuñez-Malanyaon Canama Oaminal Cari Olivarez Castro (F.L.) Ong (E.) Castro (F.H.) 2 JOURNAL OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Ortega (P.) PRELIMINARY REMARKS Ortega (V.N.) OF CHAIRPERSON FARIÑAS Paduano Pancho Chairperson Fariñas welcomed the Members and Panganiban resource persons to the first Committee of the Whole Panotes House in the 17 th Congress whose purpose was to con- Papandayan duct a briefing by the various Executive departments Pichay and to deliberate on the report of the President relative Quimbo to Proclamation No. 216, dated May 23, 2017, enti- Ramirez-Sato tled, “DECLARING A STATE OF MARTIAL LAW Ramos AND SUSPENDING THE PRIVILEGE OF THE Revilla WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS IN THE WHOLE OF Roa-Puno MINDANAO.” Rodriguez (I.) Rodriguez (M.) He urged the Members to observe silence and de- Roman corum and abide by the rules; a nd directed the Ser- Roque (H.) geant-at-Arms to take note of those who were not ob- Sagarbarria serving the rules or else advise them to go out of the Sahali Session Hall. He pointed out that the Body was ful- Salo filling its mandate to listen to the aforecited report and Sambar that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte personally deliv- Sandoval ered the same to the House Speaker and Senate Presi- Sarmiento (E.M.) dent within 48 hours of the declaration of martial law, Savellano all pursuant to the Constitution. Sema Suansing (E.) Thereafter, Chairperson Fariñas designated Rep. Suansing (H.) Bondoc as acting Majority Leader to facilitate the Suarez meeting and to call on the invited persons who will Tan (A.) present their reports and respond to queries. He also Teves instructed the Members who wished to interpellate or Tinio ask clarificatory questions to register with the Major- Tolentino ity Leader. Tugna Tupas ADOPTION OF GROUND RULES Turabin-Hataman Umali On motion of Majority Leader Bondoc, there be- Unabia ing no objection, the Body subsequently adopted the Ungab following ground rules of the meeting as proposed by Uy (J.) Chairperson Fariñas: 1) let the resource persons finish Uybarreta their briefing before allowing Members to ask ques- Vargas-Alfonso tions; 2) give each Member five minutes for interpel- Velasco lation and if necessary, extend the same by a second Vergara round with the same time limit; (3) adjourn the meet- Villanueva ing at 3:00 p.m. to give way to the plenary session at Villaraza-Suarez 4:00 p.m. and suspend the meeting for a lunch break Villarica from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.; and 4) approve a Com- Villarin mittee Report for presentation to the plenary. Yap (M.) Yu Zamora (R.) ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF INVITED Zarate RESOURCE PERSONS FROM THE Zubiri EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT With 135 Members responding to the Call, and with one-fifth of all the Members constituting a At this point, Chairperson Fariñas acknowledged quorum, the Chairperson declared the presence of a the presence in the Session Hall of the following in- quorum. (See also Appendix 1) vited resource persons: WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2017 3 1. Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea absent, to explain why they failed to show up. He said and his Deputy Executive Secretaries and that the Body can move for the Speaker to issue sub- Undersecretaries; poenas to them. 2. Secretary Mark A. Villar of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH); Whereupon, Chairperson Fariñas recognized Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez to address the Commit- 3. Undersecretary Claro A. Arellano represent- tee of the Whole. ing Secretary Silvestre H. Bello of the De- partment of Labor and Employment (DOLE); ADDRESS OF SPEAKER ALVAREZ (P.) 4. Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana of the Depart- ment of National Defense (DND); Speaker Alvarez stated that the Committee of the Whole House was convened to discuss an urgent mat- 5. Secretary Hermogenes C. Esperon from the ter the resolution of which had lasting implications to Office of the National Security Adviser national security and public well-being. He stressed (NSA); that Congress had to respond to the current crisis not only because thousands of lives had been devastated 6. Commissioner Leah C. Tanodra-Armamento or the terror threat could engulf the rest of the nation representing Chairman Luis Martin Gascon in flames, but because it was the right thing to do. He of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR); added that such response will determine the govern- ment’s direction concerning terrorism. 7. Secretary Datu Abul Khayr Alonto of the Of- fice of Mindanao Development Affairs (MinDA), The Speaker then said that the Members should not view the situation from the perspective of the past 8. Deputy Director-General Ramon C. Apo- because the Constitution provided sufficient safe- linario representing Director-General guards against abuses by agents of the State. He main- Ronald M. Dela Rosa of the Philippine Na- tained that the House leadership was carefully watch- ing developments and will step in as a counterbalance tional Police (PNP); should the need arise. He stressed that support for the 9. Justice Mariano Del Castillo and Court Ad- declaration of martial law should not be interpreted to ministrator Jose Midas Marquez of the Su- mean that the peace and order problem was simply a military one, as he underscored the need to address the preme Court; historical, social, economic, and political roots 10. Vice Chief of Staff, Lt. General Salvador thereof. Melchor B. Mison Jr. representing General Eduardo M. Año, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP); Speaker Alvarez concluded his address by urging his colleagues to support President Duterte and legis- 11. Secretary Paulyn Jean B. Rosell-Ubial of the late lasting solutions to the problems at hand. He Department of Health (DOH) and her Under- stressed that they owed this not only to the people of secretaries and Directors; Marawi City or Mindanao but of the entire Philip- pines. 12. Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo of the De- partment of Tourism (DOT); BRIEFING BY THE EXECUTIVE 13. Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi of the Department DEPARTMENT ON THE REPORT of Energy (DOE); and FROM THE PRESIDENT RELATIVE TO PROCLAMATION NO. 216 14. Governor Mujiv S. Hataman of the Autono- mous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Chairperson Fariñas then directed the Body to proceed with the Executive Department’s briefing on He then asked the Committee to ask the resource the President’s report on Proclamation No. 216, star- persons who had confirmed their attendance but were ting with Executive Secretary Medialdea. 4 JOURNAL OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE PRESENTATION OF EXECUTIVE PRESENTATION OF SENIOR SECRETARY MEDIALDEA EXECUTIVE SECRETARY GUEVARRA Executive Secretary Medialdea said that prior to Senior Executive Secretary Guevarra said that the the President’s assumption into office, Mindanao al- Senate President and House Speaker received copies ready had a long and complex history of lawless vio- of the President’s report on May 25, 2017 within the lence perpetrated by private armies, local warlords, 48-hour limit provided under Section 18, Article VII bandits, criminal syndicates, and terrorist groups and of the Constitution. He said that the report featured religious extremists which included the hostage-tak- the prominent involvement of the Abu Sayyaf Group ing and murder of innocent civilians, bombing of (ASG) and Maute group that was backed up by the Is- power transmissions, highway robberies, extortion, at- lamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), in the spread of tacks on military outposts, assassination of media peo- violence and lawlessness in Mindanao; the member- ple, and mass jailbreak. He pointed out that in 2016, ship, area of operation, and ideology of the Maute the President issued Proclamation No. 5 which de- group; the events leading to th e declaration of martial clared a state of national emergency in Mindanao on law on May 23, 2017; the acts of the Maute group that account of lawless violence in Mindanao; and that just justified said declaration; and the deterioration of pub- recently, he issued Proclamation No. 216 which de- lic order and safety in Marawi City and the threat to clared a state of martial law in the same region due to the security of the entire island of Mindanao. He also public uprisings conducted by lawless armed groups. read into the records the text of General Order (GO) No. 1 which the President issued to implement Proc- lamation No.