Neither House of Congress managed to pass a bill to modernize the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration, meaning a three-year upgrade for the weather bureau will have to wait.
Vicente Sotto III, who has resigned as majority floor leader, said there was no quorum to pass the bill. “There were only 15 senators present when we made a roll call, but only 10 senators [present] when we were about to approve the last Malacañang-certified bill,” Sotto said in a Philippine Star report.
He said the bill might still be passed as an enrolled bill, or a bill that both Houses have passed in identical forms. The Senate’s legislative division will check on whether that can still be done.
The House did not act on the bill, which would have upgraded Pagasa’s facilities and equipment, either.
“With the modernization program of PAGASA, it shall serve as a technology-based financially-stable data center thus, becoming the central information station for real-time weather updates available to every individual and for the Philippines’ typhoon-preparedness plan,” Agham Party-list Representative Angelo Palmones, an author of the bill, said.
Thanks, guys!
