THE leadership change in the Senate is good for the Marcos administration’s push for constitutional reforms because it will give the Charter change (Cha-cha) push another chance, according to opposition leader Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman.
“It’s always possible that a change of leadership will also enhance the chances of Charter change,” Lagman said. “But let us wait and see. Let the development unfold in the Senate because the House has already approved the Cha-cha resolution.”
Lagman was referring to Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 7, the House-approved version of the measure seeking to amend what the House leadership describe as the “restrictive” economic provisions of the Constitution.
The Senate version, RBH No. 6, authored by former Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Sens. Loren Legarda and Juan Edgardo Angara, remain pending before the the sub-comittee on constitutional reforms.
Angara has resigned as chair of the special subcommittee after Escudero assumed the Senate’s top post last Monday following Zubiri’s resignation.
Escudero has vowed to meet with Speaker Martin Romualdez to fix the relationship between the two chambers, which has been strained due to the People’s Initiative (PI) and Cha-cha issues, among others.
Lagman, a veteran lawyer-lawmaker, said the issue on how the proposed changes should be voted upon by the two houses, either jointly or separately, will eventually have to be decided by the Supreme Court.
“That issue is not resolved in the Constitution. The Constitution is ambiguous. It is possible that issue of joint or separate voting will go to the Supreme Court for a final decision,” he said.
RBH No. 7 proposes that the voting be undertaken jointly since senators will easily be ount numbered by congressmen if the voting will be done jointly.
Lagman said the exercise of constituent powers to amend the Constitution is different from Congress’ power to legislate.
“Kaya duon natin makikita ang pagkaiba (That’s where we’ll see the difference). Whether it is joint or separate, palagay ko hindi matatapos ang debate among us. Among senators and congressmen baka umabot sa Korte Suprema,” he said.
Lagman’s stand is for the two chambers of Congress have to meet jointly to propose and vote on constitutional amendments.
“Pero sa aking palagay (to my mind) — without any partisanship on the results of voting jointly — e ang palagay ko voting jointly ito sapagkat unicameral ang Constituent Assembly, walang senador ‘yan, walang congressman, walang representative, walang Senate (I think it should be voting jointly because a Constituent Assembly is unicameral, no senators, no congressmen, no representatives, no Senate),” he said.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, an author of RBH No. 7, said he is keeping his fingers crossed that constitutional reforms can still move forward in the third and final session of the 19th Congress following the leadership change in the Senate.
Villafuerte said he was hoping that President Marcos Jr.’s commitment to improving tertiary education would be the cue for senators to pass the pending measure in the Senate on constitutional reform, which seeks to lift foreign ownership restrictions on, among others, Philippine education to allow the entry of premier international higher education institutions (HEIs).
He said that allowing leading educational institutions to put up schools in the Philippines to level up the country’s college graduates is necessary, considering the President’s observation at the recent National Higher Education Summit that not one higher education institutions (HEIs) has made it to the Top 100 schools in the Times Higher Education 2024 Asia University Rankings.
“Allowing the entry of premier foreign schools via constitutional reform will be one way for us lawmakers in the 19th Congress to support President Marcos’ commitment to put the improvement of tertiary education at the front and center of his Administration’s national development agenda,” Villafuerte said.
He expressed optimism on the prospects for constitutional reform to happen this year, as both Escudero and Romualdez have separately bared plans to meet up this week to strive for a better working relationship between the Senate and House on priority issues, including Cha-cha.
“I prefer to look at the glass as half full rather than half empty in light of the commitment of both Speaker Martin and Senate President Chiz to work on mending what needs mending as far as inter-chamber working relationship was concerned,” Villafuerte said.
If the Senate passes RBH 6, Villafuerte said he expects “smooth sailing for the passage of the final congressional bill at the bicameral conference committee level – and its subsequent ratification by both the Senate and the House – because the House-approved RBH 7 was patterned after RBH 6 in limiting the lifting of the 60-40 equity rule in the public services, education and advertising sectors.”
