First, it was the idea of convening a Constitutional Convention. They thought it was tedious and expensive, as it will require an election of delegates across the nation. So, scrap it.
Then, it was the idea of a Constituent Assembly, or converting the Congress of the Philippines into a “constituent assembly,” a term not even written or mentioned in the present Constitution. It was Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas who first pointed this out.
The legislature has so many lawyers as members but they refuse to acknowledge that the 1987 Constitution does not have any “constituent assembly” in its text. What it has as a way of amending the Charter is for the House and the Senate or all the members of Congress voting to tweak the Constitution, which does not even say if the lawmakers will vote separately or jointly.
Then, came the unlamented People’s Initiative (PI). We all know about this one, and the alleged spending spree that characterized its conception, initial efforts, and what looked like a sorry demise. So, this is as good as scrapping it, too. Onward to the back burner.
These people are indeed persistent and insistent.
Now, we have Resolutions of Both House Number 6 and 7. And Senator Robin Padilla has just made a last-minute filing of his very own Resolution of Both Houses No. 5.
RBH Six and Seven talked about tweaking the economic provisions only. Robin’s RBH No. 5 proposes to include the changes in the political provisions. Such as lifting the term limits of local and other national officials, which is exactly what Secretary Atty. Larry Gadon, presidential adviser for Poverty Alleviation, proposed in a recent press conference.
Slim chances
With the resumption of legislature sessions, another section in the bumpy road to Charter change has opened.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said the anti-Charter Change group in the Senate now has at least 8 votes. They were originally composed of Senators Koko Pimentel, Risa Hontiveros, Cynthia Villar, Imee Marcos and Francis Escudero. Several caucuses held by the senators led Zubiri to believe that three or four more senators were against moves to revise the Charter. “They have not spoken in public but they’ve been very vocal within, during our caucuses,” Zubiri noted.
“Meron pa akong apat na nakikita na ayaw din po nila. Hindi ko lang babanggitin kasi I’m not at liberty. They have not spoken in public but they’ve been very vocal within, sa amin, doon sa (mga) caucus, against sila. So lima na po ‘yan and then there’s about four more.
So, lusaw na po ‘yung aming 18 votes para maipasa ‘yan,” said Zubiri.
With Congress resuming its sessions, the Senate subcommittee of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments is set to start anew its discussions on the proposed Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6, which seeks to revise three economic provisions of the Constitution.
Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara previously said that the proposed amendments would likely be submitted for plenary debates by October this year before the upper chamber starts deliberating on the 2025 national budget. There are 3 more scheduled public hearings in the provinces before the sub-committee wraps up its discussions and submits its committee report.
The House of Representatives, which has been pressing the Senate to hasten it Cha-cha discussions, has approved RBH No. 7, its version of the Senate’s RBH No. 6.
Zubiri would like a solid confirmation from the public through a new survey by the Social Weather Stations, following Pulse Asia’s poll in March that showed 88 percent of Filipinos are against Cha-cha. He will most like get the same results.
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