SEN. Grace Poe yesterday said the Senate will not rush the passage of Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 even if the House of Representatives has transmitted RBH No. 7, which it approved on third and final reading during the last session day on Wednesday.
Congress is on its summer break until April 28.
Poe said: “We have always taken into consideration the other Chamber’s priorities but the Senate has never been in the tradition of railroading any measure. All bills are thoroughly debated and major stakeholders are respectfully consulted without exemption.”
The Senate started hearings on RBH No. 6 under the sub-committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes led by Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara even before the House started to tackle RBH No. 7.
Angara earlier said that the discussions on RBH No. 6 will resume after the summer recess and will most likely last until October.
Poe said the Senate will take its time in discussing the proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution to make sure that all stakeholders are consulted and concerned sectors are heard before they pass it.
“Whether it’s constitutional amendment or a legislative franchise, the Senate prioritizes measures according to the needs of the country. The people sets the deadline, we just listen,” she said.
Sen. Imee Marcos said the passage of RBH No. 7 “should not affect the pace and manner by which the Senate conducts the deliberations on RBH No. 6.”
“I think one very important issue that should be addressed is the set of rules that will govern the voting procedure of the Constituent Assembly,” Marcos added.
The Senate is quickly running out of time to pass RBH No. 6 because it only has 12 session days left to pass it once Congress resumes session on April 29 after Congress’ five-week Lenten break, Rep. Jude Acidre (PL, Tingog), a House deputy majority leader, yesterday said.
Acidre reminded senators that from April 29, the two houses of Congress will only be in session until to May 24 before it adjourns sine die.
Acidre that that as much as Speaker Martin Romualdez wants to give the Senate all the time it needs to tackle the proposed amendments, “we have to understand there is a limited time frame to do this.”
“As many of us actually know, the (2025 midterm) elections are coming and we already cited that the most favorable time is for this to be passed before the Congress adjourns sine die (on May 25),” he told a press conference.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday night voted 289-7 with two abstentions to approve on third and final reading RBH No. 7, the counterpart measure to the Senate’s RBH No. 6.
After adjourning sine die on May 25, Congress will open the Third Regular Session on July 21, the same day President Marcos Jr. is set to deliver his annual State of the Nation Address (SONA).
After the SONA, the House will be too busy tackling the proposed national budget for 2025 and by October, lawmakers will already be filing their certificates for candidacy for the May 2025 midterm elections in preparation for the campaign season that will start in February 2025.
“So those are the things that we’re looking at, the deadlines. It can’t be said that we imposed on the Senate but this is a reasonable time frame for them. If the Senate means what they said, then they (senators) will have to pass it before the sine die (adjournment),” said Acidre.
Acidre said if the Senate approves the proposed amendments by the time Congress goes on its long recess in May, these could be submitted to the people in a plebiscite before the May 2025 elections.
“We know we’ll have an election in 2025, whether we want the plebiscite to happen together with 2025 elections or whether we want to do it ahead of the 2025 elections. Still, that’s a deadline that… we expect the Senate to know, right?” he said. “And if they mean what they said that they will pass this, they know that that is the ultimate deadline and if you work back the calendar coming from the election, maybe they should pass it before the sine die (adjournment).”
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri has said that President Marcos Jr. wants the Cha-cha plebiscite to be held simultaneously with the 2025 midterm elections to save billions of pesos, which the Comelec has estimated could reach about P13 billion.
Congressmen, however, fear that the issue will be politicized once the plebiscite is held simultaneously with the 2025 national and local elections since congressmen are being accused of trying to prolong the terms of elected officials even if the resolutions clearly limit the proposed amendments to economic provisions.
Acidre said the people should know far as the House is concerned, “we’ve already fulfilled our mandate.” “We have passed the resolution and we have already forwarded it to the Senate,” he said.
“Now, we’re looking at our friends in the upper house of what they will do because as they insist, Congress is a bicameral body and the actions of the House has to be reciprocated by the Senate and we have full trust considering that RBH 6 is authored by the Senate President, by the Senate Pro Tempore, by the majority leader and the chairman of the sub-committee,” he said.
COMELEC
The Comelec yesterday expressed readiness to receive the proposed amendments to the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution despite the potential legal and operational challenges this will pose.
In a press briefing, Comelec chairman George Garcia said they are prepared to handle RBH No. 7 in the event that the House submits it to the poll body sans the Senate counterpart measure.
“The Comelec will always perform its duty or duties in accordance with the Constitution. If the RBH7 is filed with the Comelec, you can expect that the Commission will perform its constitutional duty,” said Garcia.
“We don’t have a choice if the lower house will file it before us. We will receive it… We won’t turn our backs on the responsibility of deciding on the matter,” he added.
The poll chief, however, pointed out that there could be legal challenges in such a plan by some lawmakers.
In particular, he said it would be difficult to determine if the 289 votes of congressmen will be sufficient to amend provisions of the Constitution.
“It is very hard to be given that responsibility to interpret if they can vote jointly or separately (with the Senate). There is no precedent for it. Probably, we’ll just cross the bridge when we get there,” said Garcia.
Similarly, he said it would be difficult to conduct a plebiscite, if deemed necessary, while they are in the middle of preparing for the May 2025 national and local polls.
“It is a difficult job, in case such a scenario comes. We just got over the issue of People’s Initiative, and then another issue is coming,” said Garcia. — With Wendell Vigilia and Gerard Naval