The suspension of the sessions of the House of Representatives starting in the afternoon of Tuesday, October 6, 2020, up to November 15, 2020 or a period of 40 days, without the prior consent of the Senate violates Section 16 (5) of Article VI of the Constitution which unequivocally provides:

“Neither House during the sessions of the Congress shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.”

Moreover, it also violates Concurrent Resolution No. 11 authorizing the suspension of sessions only from October 17, 2020 to November 15, 2020. 

The suspension of the House sessions came on the heels of the twin motions of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to terminate the deliberations on the 2021 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) and the approval of the GAB on second reading, both of which were precipitate and premature, and designed to preempt the resolution of the speakership rift while the House is in session.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN