Marcos’ hand in Cha-cha evident

- Advertisement -

THE actuations of President Marcos Jr. in relation to the issue of revising or amending the 1987 Constitution are becoming more suspect, opening the window wider for a possible public censure. In a meeting Monday in Malacañang with leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate, Marcos took the opportunity again to air his views on the matter.

His views were interpreted by the lawmakers as directives.

The Feb. 26 meeting is the second time Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Speaker Martin Romualdez were invited to the Palace. The first was in January when the President tried to patch up the widening rift between the two chambers over the issue of people’s initiative (PI). It appears the House had tried to hoodwink the public and emasculate or even abolish the Senate by sending out PI forms for voters nationwide to sign, using congressmen as both distributors and payout masters.

- Advertisement -

Marcos, with his action man-cousin clearly behind the unlamented PI, cannot feign innocence on the scandalous initiative.

‘There are many reasons the Marcos administration should refrain from railroading Charter change…’

The senators were appeased after the first meeting as the President said it would be the Senate which will lead congressional action on Charter change, and the House will just approve what the Senate passed. This became the basis for Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 (RBH-6) which is now under committee discussions.

But the first meeting failed to effect a legislative consensus as innuendoes and insults continued to be hurled by members of both chambers.

Meanwhile, we know of what happened in the Feb. 26 meeting through Zubiri who said the Chief Executive told senators he wants the plebiscite on proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution held alongside the 2025 midterm polls.

The Senate now eyes final approval of RBH 6 before it adjourns on May 24. The House is gunning for a plebiscite to be held as early as July, and began on Monday its deliberations of RBH 7, a measure similar to its Senate counterpart but which excludes any provision on whether Congress will vote on constitutional amendments separately or jointly. Both RBH 6 and 7 seek to relax restrictions on foreign ownership in public utilities, higher education and advertising.

Zubiri said the Senate cannot pass RBH No. 6 before the end of March because of other pressing matters. He was even apologetic and defensive because “they might say that I’m delaying it again,” presumably referring to the congressmen. As he spoke, Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chair of the constitutional amendments panel, was calling the senators “obstructionists.”

Marcos’ hand became noticeable again when he directed Sen. Sonny Angara, chair of the Senate subcommittee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes, to explore legal possibilities of convincing Comelec to include a rider question on Charter change on the back of the ballots for the 2025 elections.

In all these meetings, Marcos, Romualdez and Zubiri must have forgotten they are not the only ones affected or involved in the move to tweak the Charter. There is the Comelec, the Supreme Court, the business community and the rest of the private sector, and the general population or the masses.

There are many reasons the Marcos administration should refrain from railroading Charter change, and the most primordial is the interest of the public, not the savings or cost of holding a plebiscite during the 2025 elections.

Author

- Advertisement -

Share post: