Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

The House quad-committee (quad-comm) intends to have its partial committee report approved by plenary before the Christmas break, its overall chairman Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said.

"We will call it progress report kasi continuing yung quad-comm (because the quad-comm will be continuing) even after the Christmas season...quad-comm [hearings] will still continue," Barbers told House reporters.

"Yung aming progress report based on what we have sufficiently covered dun sa issue ng EJKs (extrajudicial killings), drugs, and POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators)," he said.

(Our progress report will be based on what we have sufficiently covered on the issues of EJK, drugs, and POGOs.)

"But this is not to say that we will already stop no, because there are still issues that we will have to tackle before we terminate the quad-comm hearings," explained Barbers. 

Since August this year, the quad-comm has carried out 12 marathon hearings that have typically lasted over 10 hours each.

Barbers said agencies like the Department of Justice (DOJ) or National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) can only take cognizance of the progress report and its recommended actions once it is approved by the plenary.

"So kailangan pa rin talaga ng (So it really needs) plenary action so that it will become legitimate," said the veteran congressman from Mindanao. 

The special four-way panel made initial deliberation about its partial committee report in a closed-door meeting last Thursday, Dec. 5.

Asked if this progress report would be forwarded to the plenary for approval before the Christmas recess, Barbers said "Yes." 

The final session day of the year is Wednesday, Dec. 18. 

While there's a scheduled quad-comm hearing on Thursday, Dec. 12, Barbers said this will no longer have any bearing on the progress report that the panel members previously discussed.

"Whatever we will discuss there, hindi na kasama dito sa aming progress report kasi tapos na kami dito...maaaring sa susunod na report maisama na namin yung whatever we will be able to uncover sa Thursday," he said.

(Whatever we will discuss there, we will no longer include in our progress report because we're done here...maybe in the the next report, we will include whatever we will be able to uncover on Thursday.)