Senate adjourns today

The Senate adjourns today, Feb. 6, as it approves important measures of national and local application.

Congress shall go on a four-month break in preparation for the 2013 mid-term elections and will resume session on June 5 before it will adjourn Sine Die on June 7.

Earlier, the Commission on Elections had set the campaign period for senatorial candidates and party-list groups from February 12 to May 11, 2013, while the campaign period for those running as congressmen and elective regional, provincial, city and municipal officials was set from March 29 to May 11, 2013.

Of the 12 Senate seats that are up for grabs, six senators are vying for reelection. They are Alan Peter Cayetano, Chiz Escudero, Gregorio Honasan II, Loren Legarda, Aquilino Pimentel III and Antonio Trillanes IV.

Senators Edgardo Angara, Joker Arroyo, Panfilo Lacson, Kiko Pangilinan and Manny Villar who had served their second consecutive six-year term will be barred from reelection.

The winning senatorial candidates will take their oaths before the Senate President when the Upper Chamber will resume the first regular session of the 16th Congress on July 22, 2013. They will then proceed to the House of Representatives for a joint session of Congress when the President delivers his State-of-the Nation Address.