MANILA, Philippines — The anti-discrimination bill faces a rough sailing after both Chambers of Congress remain pre-occupied with the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Ifugao Rep. Teddy Brawner Baguilat Jr., chairman of the House Committee on National Cultural Communities, said the discussion on the bill has been stopped because of the impeachment proceedings against Corona.

The House of Representatives and the Senate have yet to consolidate their versions of the measure.

“Just like other bills with the bicameral, it’s put on hold because of the impeachment,” Baguilat said.

The Committee on Justice earlier decided to push through the impeachment complaint against Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, prompting some to say that House legislative functions may be hampered with two cases on its desk.

He said they have yet to discuss whether or not the lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender (LGBT) provisions would be included in the bill as earlier pushed by their Senate counterparts.

Baguilat said the senators will also tackle among themselves if they would give in to the proposal of Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III to adopt the House version, which does not include the LGTB provisions.

He proposed that to keep the legislative mill grinding, his colleagues who are not involved in the impeachment trial as well as counterparts in the upper chamber should focus on passing important bills.

“For those who are not directly working with the prosecution, the business for House members should be with our committee work,” he said.

“The Senate should allot a specific time of the week to tackle committee work, otherwise, we’ll be blaming the impeachment trial for not passing substantial legislation when the 15th Congress is over,” the House leader said.

Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr. earlier said the House leadership would keep an eye on the attendance of lawmakers to ensure that the passage of important bills will be attended to.

The bicameral conference committee was supposed to tackle the bill on Dec. 6 last year but was moved last month to another date.

In the bicameral meeting, both chambers of Congress will reconcile the conflicting versions of Senate Bill 2814 and House Bill 4807. Both versions penalize the profiling and the acts of discrimination hurled against persons on account of ethnic origin and religious affiliation and belief. What makes the Senate bill different from that of the House is the inclusion of the “sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity” provisions.