MANILA, Philippines — Members of the House of Representatives would have to skip their midterm break when they deliberate on ABS-CBN’s application for a franchise renewal, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said on Tuesday.

“The deliberations … will continue … until they are finished so no one can say we’re stopping the process, or dragging our feet,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano said the issue had become “so divisive” and “so polluted,” that it distracted Congress from more pressing concerns like the COVID-19 crisis.

The House committee is likely to hold two to three hearings a week, Cayetano said, adding that the House should be ready to decide when it comes back after its recess starting on June 4 and after President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address on July 27.

In the Senate, Se­nate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday said Cayetano’s decision to withdraw the bill showed his indifference to the plight of the network’s 11,000 workers.

Union leaders of the company meanwhile said they were staying strong for their coworkers and families despite the looming prospect of layoffs.

—With reports from Marlon Ramos and Miguel R. Camus

MANILA, Philippines —  The Philippines is still in the first wave of the novel coronavirus outbreak, Malacañang said Thursday, refuting Health Secretary Francisco Duque III’s declaration that the country is now facing the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Tayo po ngayon ay nasa first wave,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a televised Palace briefing.

“Alam niyo po ang medisina, para ring mga abogado ‘yan, iisa lang ang batas namin (pero) iba iba ang interpretasyon. Ganyan din po siguro sa medisina, iisa ang siyensya ,iisa ang datos, iba ang basa,” Roque said.

During a Senate hearing on the government’s COVID-19 response Wednesday, Duque disclosed that the Philippines is actually on the second wave of COVID-19 infection now, citing data from epidemiology experts.

Duque’s statement, however, was met with opposition from some senators, lawmakers, and even government officials, especially after President Rodrigo Duterte himself has repeatedly mentioned trying to avoid a second wave of COVID-19 cases, which his economic managers said would be too costly to address.

It added that the second wave of more than 10,000 cases peaked at the end of March. It can be recalled that the DOH reported 583 new COVID-19 infections on March 31, the highest recorded new cases in a day.

Citing data from health professionals, Roque said the first wave started with the three COVID-19 positive Chinese nationals late January and went on until May when the Philippines started to report a decrease in coronavirus infections.

“Kaya nga po ang sinasabi natin bagamat hindi pa po fully flattened ang curve, nagsisimula na po ang pag-flatten ng curve,” he said.

The Palace official likewise claimed that the first three cases are too small to be considered an outbreak wave.