MANILA (UPDATED) — The Senate and House of Representatives will resume plenary sessions next week, regardless if Metro Manila remains under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), officials from both chambers said Thursday.

The upper chamber, like the House of Representatives, has not been holding plenary sessions for nearly 2 weeks after the capital region was placed under the strictest of government's 4-level quarantine statuses due to a rise in COVID-19 cases.

"I will convene on Monday [whether] they extend [ECQ] or not. We are very delayed as it is, in our legislative agenda," Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III said.

Sotto made the statement after Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri expressed worries that senators may not have sufficient time to pass important legislative measures.

Lawmakers are expected to be busy with budget deliberations come September and the filing of certificate of candidacies for the 2022 elections by October.

In case ECQ is extended in Metro Manila, the Senate may start its plenary sessions earlier so staff members can also arrive in their homes before curfew hours, Sotto said.

[B] HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The lower chamber will also resume their work on Monday, according to Secretary General Mark Llandro Mendoza.

Plenary sessions will be held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. using alternative and face-to-face setup, according to Mendoza.

This hybrid platform, he said, would only require the House Speaker, a representative of the majority and minority leaders, as well as a small number of secretariat staff inside the plenary hall.

Only important personnel, meanwhile, will be allowed inside secretariat offices. The secretary general urged their offices to make their operations limited, with work from home setup as the main mode to perform tasks.

"The rest of the House members shall attend via Zoom videoconferencing," Mendoza said.

The government has yet to announce the next community quarantine status of Metro Manila, which remains under ECQ until Friday.

• Extend or lower ECQ? Metro Manila mayors leave it up to COVID-19 task force

— reports from Robert Mano and RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News

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