DESPITE credible survey results showing 88 percent of Filipinos are against the move to revise the 1987 Constitution, lawmakers from both the House of Representatives and the Senate are hell bent on pursuing Charter change. The simple reason is, according to Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, President Marcos wants to change economic provisions of the Constitution purportedly to push economic growth of the nation.
Rodriguez is the chair of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments.
With the unlamented People’s Initiative (PI) all but consigned to the back burner, the lawmakers are united at least on what mode to take in their effort to tweak the Charter –through an act of Congress. The only other way — constitutional convention — where delegates would be elected by the people is costly, slow, and tedious.
Any observer of the nation’s journey towards a new Constitution cannot help but notice that the congressmen are pushing hard on this while the senators are taking their own sweet time, creating sentiments of annoyance and sometimes, incidents of trading of insults.
‘The Senate’s move to conduct hearings outside the Senate to get the true sentiments of the people is a step in the right direction because it will validate the surveys or challenge their results.’
The House last month approved on final reading Resolution of Both Houses No. 7 (RBH No. 7), the measure containing proposed amendments to the “restrictive” economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution. The Senate’s version of the bill, RBH No. 6, is pending before the subcommittee of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes chaired by Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara who has said that the discussions could take until October.
Several representatives are highly critical of the senators for their turtle-paced action, the most agitated being Lanao del Norte Rep. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo who chairs the House Committee on Muslim Affairs, deputy majority leader Janette Garin, and deputy speaker David Suarez. Now we know who are Speaker Martin Romualdez’ loyal “operatives,” but there are many more. As the House holds the power of the purse, the Speaker controls the purse’s zipper in the matter of releasing funds to House members. It was that way before, it is this way today, and we expect no changes in this standard operating procedure in future congresses.
It is worthy of mention that Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri has announced that the sub-committee headed by Angara will conduct three more public hearings next month before it comes out with a committee report. The public hearings will be held in Baguio City, Cebu, and Cagayan de Oro City.
Zubiri said the Senate will hear people’s sentiments on the proposal to introduce amendments to the economic provisions, which will be limited to public services, education, and advertising. He categorically said that introducing amendments to the political provisions of the Charter, specifically to extend the terms of office of elected officials, is definitely not on the table.
The Senate’s move to conduct hearings outside the Senate to get the true sentiments of the people is a step in the right direction because it will validate the surveys or challenge their results. These public hearings also should have been done by the House of Representatives, but alas, they have already made up their minds even before consultations with the public were even mentioned as an afterthought.
