The Senate on Thursday, June 3, closed the second regular session of the 18th Congress with its members taking pride on the legislative measures they crafted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second regular session of 18th Congress opened in July 27, 2020.

In his speech, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the upper chamber acted fast to the calls for another measure responding to the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.

"Kaya noong Septembre 2020, agad na naipasa ang batas na nagpapalawig ng naunang Bayanihan, na tinawag namang Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, na nakatuon hindi lamang sa kalusugan ng bawat Pilipino ngunit pati na rin sa muling pagbangon ng ekonomiya (That's why on September 2020, we immediately passed the law expanding the first Bayanihan Act, the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, which focuses not only on health but also the recovery of our economy)," Sotto said.

Sotto also cited the Senate's passage of the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act -- whose version was adopted by the House of Representative -- to expedite the inoculation of Filipinos against the deadly virus.

"Isa itong kritikal na hakbang para mapangalagaan ang immunity ng lahat, at sa huli ay manumbalik sa normal ang lahat (This is one critical step to ensure the immunity of everyone, and in the end help in our return to normalcy)," he said.

The chamber also approved the extension of the availability of the 2020 appropriations to December 2021 and of the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act funds up to June 30, 2021.

Sotto said the Senate had also been aware of the needs of sectors to ride out the pandemic, passing the early this year the Financial Strategic Transfer (FIST) Act, as well as the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act.

He also mentioned the passage of a law that would suspend, for a certain period, the increases in the contributions to the Social Security System (SSS).

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said that despite the challenges posed by the health crisis, such as having to make do with telecommuting for their hearings or to consult stakeholders and their constituencies, the Senate "managed to overcome all these difficulties and still achieve outstanding performance."

He said the Senate, during the second regular session, passed a total of 72 bills that were signed into law, "many of these are COVID-19 measures".

Senators, meanwhile, cited Sotto for his leadership of the Senate, as well as for asserting the independence and integrity of the institution.

They also gave credit to Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, whose legal expertise and scrutiny of measures helped improve the chamber's outputs.

The third regular session of the 18th Congress will open on July 25.