The Senate and the House of Representatives will resume sessions on Aug. 23 whether or not Metro Manila will stay under lockdown or ECQ, the leaders of the two chambers said Thursday.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III told reportr that he would convene the Senate next week regardless of the quarantine classification in the capital region. Speaker Lord Allan Velasco told reporters separately that House sessions will resume by Monday.
Both the Senate and the House have suspended their sessions since Aug. 9 after Metro Manila was placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine or ECQ, the strictest of the four-step quarantine classification, from Aug. 6 to 20 to curb the spread of the more contagious Delta coronavirus variant.
The IATF is set to meet on Thursday afternoon to decide on the community quarantine status for Metro Manila from Aug. 21 onwards.
Prior to suspending sessions, the Senate was tackling key economic measures, including the amendments to the Public Service Act and the Foreign Investment Act, which President Rodrigo Duterte urged Congress to work on during his final State of the Nation Address.
The Department of Budget and Management is also expected to submit the P5.02-trillion national budget for 2022 to Congress on Aug. 23.
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