Zubiri: Senate to amend rules to convene body
SENATE President Juan Miguel Zubiri yesterday said the upper chamber will convene as a “Senate Assembly” once the sub-panel committee spearheading discussions on proposed Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 submits its committee report containing its recommendations to the Senate plenary.
Zubiri said this will be the first time that a Senate Assembly will be convened, and that the Senate will “amend the rules to allow this.”
He said the word Senate Assembly was a term coined by senators and does not appear in the Constitution.
Zubiri told ANC in an interview that he has discussed the plan with Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, who is the chairperson of the sub-panel of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes, and Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III.
Zubiri said the convening of the Senate Assembly will be made once RBH 6 is approved by majority of the members of the sub-committee and submitted to the plenary for debates.
“The plan is, when we discussed this with Senator Angara, together with the minority floor leader, once the committee report is signed, that is a trigger for us to take it up on plenary for discussions and debates. Well, of course, we have to amend the rules to allow this (convening of the Senate Assembly),” he said.
RBH 6, which is authored by Zubiri, Angara and Senate Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, enjoins both houses of Congress to introduce amendments to the Constitution limited only to the public utilities, education, and advertising provisions.
Zubiri said that “in the morning, we sit as an assembly, debate on this particular amendment, then we’ll vote three-fourths, it’s about 18 votes. We need about 18 votes for amendments.”
Section 1 of Article XVII of the Charter states that Congress “upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members” may propose amendments or revisions to the Constitution.
The Constitution states three ways to introduce amendments to the Charter – through a constituent assembly, a constitutional convention, and a people’s initiative.
Zubiri said that once the proposed amendments are approved by the Senate Assembly, the final version will be presented to the House of Representatives “for them to adopt, or they can come up with their own rules also doing the same thing.”
“Then, we (will) have a bicameral report,” he said, adding that both houses should agree on the changes during the bicameral conference committee meeting “to make it final.”
To ensure that Cha-cha discussions do not affect the legislative duties of the Senate, Zubiri said proposed amendments to the Constitution will be discussed in the morning, while the afternoon sessions will focus on the crafting of other legislations.
Pimentel said the minority bloc will not support Charter change.
“For many reasons. Number one, not at this time. Two, the procedure is not clear. Three, the substance of the proposed amendment changes nothing radically. Four, the motivation for the RBH is questionable as it might have only been a reaction to the PI,” Pimentel said in a Viber message to the media.
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros, in a media forum at the Senate, said that she has long decided not to support any amendments to the Constitution.
“Tutol kami sa pag-amend ng economic provisions. Ang stand ko sa ngayon ay ‘No’ to Cha-cha on any mode or category dahil hindi naman ito kailangan sa ngayon at paulit-ulit sinasabi ng ating mga kababayan na ang dapat tutulan ay ang presyo ng pagkain, presyo ng bilihin, suweldo, korapsiyon, mga latak ng problema pa ng Duterte administration, at isyu sa West Philippine Sea, at marami pang iba (We are opposed to the proposed amendments to the economic provisions. My stand right now is ‘No’ to Cha-cha on any mode or category because this is not what the people need at the moment. They are more concerned about the rising prices of food, rising prices of goods [and services], how to increase their salaries and wages, corruption in government, the problems of the past Duterte administration, issues at the West Philippine Sea, and many more),” Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros hinted that there are also other members of the majority bloc who are not supporting Cha-cha, contrary to what Zubiri earlier said that he can assure the approval of at least 18 senators or three-fourths of the Senate in relation to amendments to the Charter.
“Ang pakiramdam ko, na may mga kasama kami sa majority na hindi rin gaano ang suporta sa RBH 6. Remember, they need three-fourths vote para ma-approve ang RBH 6.
Kailangan namin ng seven to say ‘no’ to RBH 6 (I have the feeling that some of our colleagues in the majority bloc are not very supportive of RBH 6. Remember, they need three-fourths [at least 18 of the 24 senators] vote so RBH 6 can be approved. We only need seven [votes] to say ‘no’ to RBH 6),” she added.
‘GET BACK TO WORK’
At the House of Representatives, Deputy Majority Leader Janette Garin said the two chambers of Congress should prioritize working on the Marcos administration’s priority bills instead of bickering over Cha-cha.
Garin, a former health secretary under the last Aquino administration, also challenged the Senate to “walk the talk” and do its part on the agreement of the leaders of the two chambers to put an end to their “word war.”
She said the House and the Senate should buckle down to work and pass all the 57 bills identified by the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) as priority measures, 54 of which were already approved on third and final reading by the House.
“Out of the 57 na LEDAC priority bills ang alam natin e 54 na ang tapos sa Kongreso (we know that 54 were passed by the House). E ang naisabatas pa lang as of January is 11, I think nadagdagan ito ng isa or dalawa. So, ‘eto yung mga bagay na mas dapat nating inuuna kesa na yung Kongreso at Senado e parang nagkakaroon ng word war (As of January 11, only 11 have become laws, and I think there was an additional one or two more that were enacted after that. So, these are the things that we should be prioritizing over what appears to be a word war between the House and the Senate),” she told a press conference.
The latest LEDAC bill that was approved by the House was the proposed Philippine Self-Reliant Defense Posture Program Act, which was passed on third reading last January 24.
“Hindi ba tayong mga magulang pag nag-aaway away tayo e tumatago tayo sa kwarto? Hindi pwedeng pinapakita sa mga bata dahil hindi magandang impluwensiya ‘yun (Don’t we, as parents, settle our arguments inside our rooms when we fight? We can’t let it be seen by our children because it’s going to have bad influence on them),” Garin said.
Zubiri and Speaker Martin Romualdez on Wednesday shook hands in front of President Marcos Jr. and agreed to “work professionally” and stop the bickering among lawmakers over the people’s initiative (PI) campaign to amend the 1987 Constitution.
Zubiri, however, said he cannot order the committee of Sen. Imee Marcos to stop its investigation on the PI signature campaign, although he vowed to try “a good friendly persuasion.”
The Speaker, who is being accused by some senators of being the brains behind the PI signature drive to force a joint voting of the two Houses on the proposed amendments, has not reacted to Zubiri’s statements.
Garin said she went around in her district and her constituents appear to be confused that the House and the Senate have been engaging in a heated exchange instead of working for them.
“Bakit nga ba medyo ang napapag-usapan ay hindi ang ano ang dapat para sa taong bayan. Tsaka tila hindi maganda na ‘yung Kongreso at ‘yung Senado ay nagkakaroon ng sabihin na natin word fight (Why does it seem that the discussion is not for the people? It’s also not good that the House and the Senate are having, let’s just say a word fight),” she said.
Garin however said the word war only happened because the House wanted the Senate to expedite the passage of urgent measures, including Zubiri’s RBH 6 which calls for the economic amendments to the Constitution via a separate voting.
“Siguro nandun ‘yung intensiyon ng Kongreso na mapabilis ‘yung mga batas at nandoon naman ‘yung hinaing ng aming kasamahan na bakit medyo mabagal ‘yung mga panukalang batas. Hindi lamang po ‘yung mga local bills, lalong lalo na ‘yung mga priorities ng ating gobyerno (The reason, probably, is the House’s intention to fast-track the passage of laws and also the sentiments of our colleagues that the process in the Senate is a little bit too slow),” she said.
The administration lawmaker welcomed the meeting between the Speaker and the Senate President but said all senators have to show good faith by ending its attacks on congressmen.
“The Senate should walk the talk with due courtesy on them,” she said. “Hangang hanga po ako kay Senator Migz Zubiri pero kasi sa Kongreso, ‘pag merong desisyon ang mayorya ang lahat sang ayon sa ano ang dapat para sa ating mga kababayan (I admire Sen. Migz Zubiri, it’s just that here in Congress, the majority acts as one when a decision is made about what should be done for our people),” she said.
She expressed support for the reported ceasefire between the two chambers but said House members would have to defend themselves against baseless accusations and criticisms, like those related to the new Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita (AKAP) program, which she stressed, “is not hao siao (fake).”
“We respect the wisdom of the Senate, but we also have to stand up, because we cannot continue maligning good projects. Ang pag-malign na ito ay posibleng magkaroon ng taint at magkaroon ng maling pag-intindi ‘yung ating mga kababayan (Because of this, the projects may appear to be tainted and the people might have a wrong notion),” she said.
‘SUPPORT YOUR BROTHER’
Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales called on Sen. Imee Marcos to support President Marcos Jr., her brother, who has called for amendments to the Constitution’s economic provisions.
“Kung ako si senator — kapatid pa naman si Sen. Imee, tutulungan ko (administration) (If I were the senator — Sen. Imee is a sister of the President at that — I would help the administration) kasi (because) the success of his brother is the success of our country and this only the economic provisions and there is no political amendments,” he said.
“We’re all on the same boat or cruise ship called M/S Philippines. Why can’t she just help her brother succeed?” Gonzales asked. “President BBM is the duly-elected President of the Republic with a resounding 31 million votes – the highest in history.” — With Wendell Vigilia
