Drilon and Go face each other again in Senate

When Senator Bong Go and Senate Minority Leader Senator Franklin Drilon faced each other again in the Senate, Drilon again responded to Go’s earlier statement that he was delaying the passage of bills for hospitals or hospitals’ capacity expansion Expansion Bills.

According to Drilon, it was not his questioning in the last Senate session that caused the delay in the bills but the non-immediate action of the Senate Committee on Health headed by Go.

Drilon added that it took almost a year before it was brought to the plenary, so it did not reach the allocation of funds.

“All these bills have been pending in the Senate and the committee since last year but were pointed out only last week. Bakit po inabot ng 15 buwan bago po dalhin sa plenaryo? Kaya gusto ko liwanagin, hindi po dahilan sa ating pagtatanong na natatagalan po, minsan lang po ako nagtanong last week, ngunit sa committee po ay mahigit sa 15 buwan na nakatengga,” he said.

Go replied that they did not put the bills to sleep. It was allegedly delayed because the documents from the local government units were not yet complete. The progress of the pandemic measure was also allegedly affected, firstly the implementation of the lockdown in the Senate due to employees who tested positive for COVID-19 and the Senate’s focus on the COVID-19 bills last year.

Drilon and Go face each other again in Senate

On the other hand, Drilon forced Go to answer whether it was true or not that he was delaying the passage of them.

“Simple lang po ang tanong ko, hindi totoo, Senator Go na dinelay ko ito, na pinatagal ko itong mga bills na ito,” said Drilon.

“I’m referring po dun sa ating apat na oras na pagdedebate, Mr. President,” answered Go.

“Sinabi niyo po talaga, I’m pointing to it, you said that ‘you pretend to support these bills, but in fact, you do not, and you were saying na pinatatagal ko ang pagpasa nitong mga panukalang batas. Hindi po totoo iyan hindi po ba?” said Drilon.