It is bad enough when a bill is approved by a tyranny of numbers over the ascendancy of reason, but it is worse when a bill is deemed approved by a paucity of numbers in derogation of parliamentary rules.

The latter dismal scenario happened again yesterday, November 13, 2019, when the approval on second reading of the Malasakit substitute bill to HB No. 5477 was railroaded with only a handful of Representatives present in the Plenary.

It turned out that the substitute bill was a carbon copy of Senate Bill No. 1076 authored by Senator Cristopher “Bong Go” which was previously approved on November 11, 2019 by the Senate.

The copycat version which was purportedly and hurriedly crafted by the Committee on Rules was the direct aftermath of Go’s importuning for the House leadership to cause the approval of a version completely identical to his Malasakit bill in order to preclude a bicameral conference committee.

Not even Rep. Angelina Tan, the Chair of the Committee on Health, was given an advance copy of the substitute bill, and the few Representatives present in the session hall were not accorded adequate opportunity to peruse the substitute bill even as the debates on second reading were based on the consolidated bill (HB No. 5477) which harmonized 18 separate individual House bills with provisions differing from Go’s bill.

Moreover, the substitute bill was neither submitted to nor approved by the sponsoring health committee.

The approval on second reading of the substitute bill proceeded with inordinate alacrity with the presiding officer, Deputy Speaker Raneo Abu, deliberately refusing to acknowledge Members who wanted to introduce individual amendments and/or question the lack of quorum.

Due to the imposition by Go that a House bill identical to his must be approved and the House leadership’s acceding to his insistence, the committee system of the House as well as the import of its plenary deliberations were put to naught in favor of exigency and conscripted unanimity.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN