DEPUTY Speaker and Isabela Rep. Antonio “Tonypet” Albano on Monday clarified that the daily press briefings at the House of Representatives are not meant to be used to attack anyone or any institution but were conceived, as early as June 2022, to update the people on the accomplishments and status of legislative work in the chamber.

“This daily press conference was conceptualized last June of 2022, and, we have just now recently deployed and perfected it,” Albano said.

“These daily presscons are created so that the people will know what the lower house of Congress is doing, what we’ve achieved, what we’ve accomplished, and what is pending for us to work on for the good of our beloved country and our people,” he added.

Albano said these daily briefings also serve as a showcase to let the Filipino people know “how efficient and hard-working their congressmen and congresswomen.”

“We intend to show that we in the House of the People have done many things for the betterment of our people and our beloved country,” he said.

“These daily press conferences are never about bashing anyone or any institution, contrary to what some of our counterparts accuse us of doing in the Senate. We also are not doing this daily presscons to propagate nefarious and unhealthy false news to our people,” he said.

Albano said that even if they are considered government officials, they are also private citizens and that they don’t intend to “go down in the mud with anyone who wishes to distract us from our goals of improving our beloved Philippines and the lives of our poor countrymen.”

“Although at times, we also need to defend the integrity of our House of Representatives as a respectable institution, and indeed we truly need to correct the lies that are hurled at any member of this August body, we sternly advice our colleagues in the House of the People to go use the high road, and debate and stick to the issues, and try to control their emotions, and not malign people… whether they are civilians or government officials,” he expressed.

Albano also said that he prays lawmakers in the chamber will get the same treatment as senators, especially from the media.

“These daily press conferences are therefore warranted, and no one has the right to question and ask us to stop it. In fact, anyone who criticizes these daily press conferences that we do, should stop interfering with our important work of making known the legislative accomplishments and agenda of the House of the People,” he said.

“Instead of using their time to malign our presscons, they should laud us for us being open to spend time and effort to explain and clarify our vital work that is good for our country,” he added.

Deputy Majority Leader Ramon Nolasco Jr. of Cagayan and Assistant Majority Leader Mikaela Angela B. Suansing of Nueva Ecija also present during the press briefing, said the House of Representatives has done its part to pass urgent pieces of legislation in the LEDAC and SONA of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

They said that 94.7% of all the LEDAC and SONA bills have already been exhaustively deliberated and passed by the House of Representatives, including the passage of 472 local bills.

Albano said this is exactly the information that they, as lawmakers, need to disseminate to the public in their daily press briefings.

“In unanimity, together with our entire colleagues, joined by our hard-working Speaker, we therefore appeal to all people and especially the media, to listen and fairly inform and pass the crucial information that we release in these daily presscons,” he said.

“We even would appeal to other institutions to make daily presscons themselves, so that the people are well informed of their actions, duties, and responsibilities … and accomplishments.

Ultimately, let the good intelligent Filipino people decide and judge for themselves the information that we pass to them daily. And le democracy and freedom of speech be practiced with tolerance and respect,” he said.

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Ryan Ponce Pacpaco