Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — “I was surprised.”
This was Rep. Neri Colmenares’ reaction when a session at the House of Representatives (HOR) was adjourned on Wednesday (February 3) before he had a chance to speak about an issue dear to him: the Social Security System (SSS) pension hike.
Colmenares sat down with CNN Philippines’ chief correspondent Pia Hontiveros on Thursday (February 4) to talk about the incident which caught the public’s attention as several senior citizens who attended the session stood up and jeered lawmakers as they left the hall.
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He said he was told more than a week ago that there were not enough votes to override the veto, to which he replied, “Fair and square, if we lose the vote, then we lose the vote. At least we tried our best.”
Hontiveros asked Colmenares if there was agreement that they would try to push for the override of the veto. Colmenares said there was.
But when it was time for him to speak, Colmenares said that he was surprised when the session was adjourned and his microphone was “cut off.”
“It was then that I realized that maybe they didn’t have the votes,” he said. “Maybe we had the votes because there was a very important public-private partnership (PPP) bill about to be tackled after that – it was a priority bill of Malacañan. They sacrificed it instead of tackling it; the chose to end the session and sacrifice the PPP bill which, for me, means the override vote was a bit serious.”
She then asked if it was a common practice in the HOR to be asked not to push for “something” anymore.
Colmenares answered in the affirmative when he was asked if he was going to push through with his motion.
He added, “I owe it to the senior citizens who really supported the bill to push forward. It was the only chance we had.”
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Colmenares clarified that if he didn’t push for it on Wednesday, then the chances for it to be passed would be very low.
He added he felt sorry for the senior citizens who attended the session as some had been waiting for hours.
He said, “There was rain, heat, and they were hungry… They were expecting that the veto override would be had that evening, and they were so frustrated that Congress didn’t even give us the chance to have…that motion to be filed.”
Colmenares gave his assurance that this was not the end of his fight for the veto override.
He said, “The battle is not over… On may 23 when Congress reconvenes, President Aquino Ill will be on his way out in a few days, so maybe more members of Congress are less afraid of an outgoing president… And secondly, the elections are over, so there’s no favor to ask, no benefits to be had, so maybe we’ll get the votes on May 23.”
