The Senate was forced to suspend until Monday (November 22) its budget deliberations as senators and legislative staff must undergo five days of quarantine and get RT-PCR tests after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who stayed several hours within the session hall on Tuesday, tested positive for Covid-19.
At the same time, Senate President Vicente Sotto III asked the Interagency Task Force and the Department of Health (DOH) to review the quarantine protocols for those coming from other countries and enforce them regardless of the stature of the traveler.
Sotto sounded disappointed because the forced quarantine on all those exposed to Lorenzana during the budget hearings of the Department of National Defense last Tuesday derails the already tight timeline of the Senate in processing the 2022 budget bill, which it earlier hoped to pass on second and third reading late next week. This, so that bicameral conference meetings can be quickly held with the House of Representatives to allow for the 2022 General Appropriations bill to be ratified by both chambers before their Christmas break, and for the President to review and sign it into law before yearend. That way, the country avoids going under a reenacted 2021 budget in January.
Sotto noted that Lorenzana, who came from Poland — a non-green country — should have been at home in self-quarantine. Since he sat for hours on Tuesday with several senators, notably the defense budget sponsor Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Sen. Francis Tolentino, all those in the hall must undergo five days of self-isolation and then tested for Covid-19. This canceled the scheduled budget hearings for Thursday and Friday.
Ironically, the unsuspecting senators and their staff who were there on Tuesday were cooped up the whole day inside the session hall on Wednesday, when they deliberated on the DOH budget, prompting Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri to say they felt lucky to be in he “company of so many doctors, including the vaccine czar.” Secretary Carlito Galvez had stayed for hours near Sen. Pia Cayetano, the DOH budget sponsor.
The revelation by Zubiri of Lorenzana’s Covid test results at past 9pm on Wednesday briefly disrupted the lengthy hearing on the DOH budget, stunning everyone in the session hall. Senators who were well exposed to the DND chief promptly went home.
Sotto, for his part, noted the IATF rule that if someone comes from a recent trip to a non-green country like Poland, he should undergo home quarantine for 10 to 14 days. This should be imposed on anyone regardless of stature, he noted.
The Department of Foreign Affairs website said Lorenzana attended a bilateral meeting in Poland from November 6 to November 13 and returned on November 14.
He joined top defense and military officials at the Senate on November 16 to defend the 2022 budget of DND and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Sotto said that because of the incident, the Senate will tighten its rules and oblige all those entering the premises to undergo RT-PCR test 24 hours before entry–not the 48 hours it required before.