Bong Go tried to stop interpellations on him in Senate

Sen. Christopher Bong Go was criticized for interfering with interpellations or questioning by other senators at the Senate plenary on Thursday.

This is for the 15 local bills already passed in the House aimed at increasing bed capacity or upgrading the facilities of some hospitals in the provinces, including those in the municipality of Rizal in Palawan; Naguilian and Rosario in La Union; Sinait in Ilocos Sur, and others.

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When asked by Minority Leader Sen. Frankin Drilon, he clarified to Bong Go where the funding for the hospitals will come from, although there are some references to hospitals held by local government units. At the same time, other bills want to have “renationalization” or transfer of hospitals under the administration of the national government from the LGU.

The focus of the discussion was the application of the “Mandanas Ruling” or the previous decision of the Supreme Court regarding the internal revenue allotment of local governments, which can include national taxes such as customs duties.

At this point, Sen. Cynthia Villar and Sen. Pia Cayetano also joined the discussion, saying that the application of the Mandanas Ruling must first be clear on the funds required by hospitals.

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“May I just make a manifestation that next time we are going to approve the increase in beds of hospitals, we indicate whether a hospital is an LGU-operated hospital or a DOH-operated hospital, so we will know what we are doing kasi parang may confusion na ngayon eh,” said Villar.

“Even without the Mandanas ruling, we are not supposed to renationalize a hospital because technically health is a devolved function. I myself was misled by the title because the title refers to the increase in bed capacity, tapos andoon lang sa body ng bill ang nationalization. So malaking issue iyon na parang it appears to be bed capacity issue when there is also a renationalizing issue,” said Cayetano.

According to Drilon, he is not against these bills, but he just wants to make sure they are under the law and be clear on whether the LGU or the national government should spend it.

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Bong Go tried to stop interpellations on him in Senate

Bong Go replied that he was ready to set aside the bills with “renationalization issues” especially since he was still waiting for an executive order from the Palace in this regard.

But he stressed that it is important to decide on some more pending bills because they are needed in the government’s response to the pandemic.

Following this, he tried to end interpellations and urged senators to vote on some bills.

Drilon also criticized Bong Go for frequently suspending the session to consult with his staff on the issue.

“Totally uncalled for, and I hope that it is not repeated,” said Drilon.

He also stressed that not because the House of Representatives has already passed the bills, the Senate will follow it because he said a check and balance is needed in Congress.

Even Cayetano said Bong Go should not have avoided interpellations in plenary.

Go also agreed to continue deliberation on the bills that would not be affected by the confusion over the Mandanas Ruling issue.

But in the end, the senators decided to resume deliberations in its plenary on Tuesday. They set aside a day of the session to clarify the bill’s provisions and vote on the bills in the second reading.

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