Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who serves as a member of the Philippine Senate, did not attend the scheduled bicameral conference committee meeting where he was designated as one of the Senate representatives on Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Philippine Congress in Metro Manila, as his absence extended his ongoing break from Senate work, according to information from the upper chamber.
Senate records show that Senate leaders earlier designated Dela Rosa as one of the official representatives of the chamber to the bicameral conference committee tasked to reconcile disagreeing provisions of a pending measure with the House of Representatives.
Officials from the Senate stated that the bicameral conference committee proceeded with its scheduled discussions despite Dela Rosa’s absence from the session.
Senate sources reported that Dela Rosa had already missed several official functions and sessions prior to the Dec. 13 bicameral conference committee meeting.
The bicameral conference committee, composed of selected members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, convened on Saturday to finalize the reconciled version of the bill before its submission for ratification by both chambers.
Senate staff members confirmed that other designated senators attended the bicameral conference committee meeting and participated in the deliberations on the disagreeing provisions of the proposed legislation.
As of Saturday, Senate officials had not yet issued a formal explanation to the media regarding the reason for Dela Rosa’s continued absence from the bicameral conference committee and other recent official Senate activities.
