Solons hit Zubiri for ‘playing’ House on truce
MEMBERS of the House of Representatives yesterday questioned the sincerity of Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri in agreeing to a “ceasefire” with congressmen as they slammed senators for their continued attack on the lower chamber’s leadership during their investigation into the people’s initiative signature campaign to amend the 1987 Constitution.
Reps. Geraldine Roman of Bataan and Janette Garin of Iloilo criticized what they called the Senate’s “lip service ceasefire.”
Zambales Rep. Jefferson F. Khonghun pointed out that senators, led by presidential sister Sen. Imee Marcos, continue to pounce on congressmen by investigating the possible use of government assistance programs, particularly the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Ayuda Para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) to entice people to sign the PI signature forms.
In a joint statement, Roman and Garin said there seems to be a Senate leadership “vacuum” because Zubiri’s ceasefire declaration is being ignored by his fellow senators.
Roman said that in the House, the rules are “clear-cut” and Speaker Martin Romualdez is the one really in charge, unlike in the Senate.
“Eh sa (in the) Upper House, who is in charge? Who’s on top? Who’s on the bottom? Si SP Migz ba o si (Is it SP Migz or) Senator (Majority Leader) Joel (Villanueva)? I’d like to find out. Please enlighten me… for the sake of efficiency,” Roman said.
Garin, for her part, made the same observation on the Senate dynamics, urging senators to “walk their talk.”
“Minsan kasi sa Senado mako-confuse ka e. Kung iyung napag- uusapan ba ay naka-cascade ‘dun sa mga miyembro (Sometimes, it’s confusing in the Senate. Is the agreement being cascaded down to all the members?) because that’s how leadership should be),” she said.
Zubiri last week announced that he and Romualdez have agreed to stop the bickering between the two chambers of Congress and to “work professionally.” He made the statement after attending the 100th birthday celebration Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile in Malacañang.
The two Congress leaders even shook hands before President Marcos Jr. and committed to sit-down for a second meeting to discuss the ceasefire and other legislative concerns, particularly Charter change.
“Yet, on the same day, senators resumed and even intensified their attack on the House by claiming that we inserted a P27 billion ‘ayuda to the poor’ in the 2024 national budget for the people’s initiative campaign,” Khonghun said in a statement.
Zubiri has said he cannot order his colleagues in the Senate, specifically Sen. Marcos, to stop the hearings being conducted by the Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation on the alleged payoffs that attended the signature gathering activities for the PI campaign.
The Senate President has also said he is not the kind of leader who imposes on the members of the upper chamber since the other senators have a disposition of their own.
“Nilalaro ba tayo ni Senate President Zubiri? (Is Senate President Zubiri just playing us?)” Konghun said. “This latest incident leaves us now wondering: Has the Senate President lost his moral ascendancy to lead the Senate or is he taking us or a ride? Hindi na ba siya pinakikinggan ng mga kapwa niya senador o talagang niloloko niya lang tayong lahat? (Has he lost the respect of his fellow senators or is he just fooling all of us?”
House leaders have said the allegations are unfair because the budget for AKAP has the approval of senators when it was included in the final version of the P5.768 trillion national budget for 2024.
The AKAP has a P60 billion budget in the 2024 national budget, of which P26.7 billion is lodged with the DSWD.
“We are puzzled with the recent actions of the Senate with regard to their treatment of the House leadership and our institution,” said Konghun, a member of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments.
Khonghun said the documents on the House-Senate conference committee report on this year’s budget “are now out in public.” “These documents contain the signatures of senators and congressmen who approved the report, which was ratified in plenary by both the Senate and the House,” he said.
Among those who signed the report was Sen. Marcos, who has started questioning the P26.7B AKAP budget.
Sen. Marcos, who was a conference committee member, has said that the details of the report were not discussed, but Konghun said the President’s elder sister “should have read the document in detail.”
“AKAP was there. She should have asked questions there and then before signing it,” Khonghun said. “The purpose of AKAP is very clear in the budget and its implementer is the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The fund is not connected at all with the people’s initiative campaign,” he stressed.
Roman also hit the Senate leadership for supposedly flip-flopping on the deadline for the approval of proposed Senate Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6, which proposes three specific revisions to the economic provisions of the Charter.
Roman pointed out that in his previous meetings with the President and Romualdez, Zubiri had repeatedly promised that RBH 6 will be passed by March, before Congress’ Holy Week break, until Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara said it may reach October.
