No Senate Cha-cha before Holy Week

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the speedy approval by the House of Representatives of a resolution on Charter change, the Senate is taking its time and is unlikely to pass its version of the measure before the Holy Week break.

Based on the Senate agenda and schedule for the last week of session, Sen. Sonny Angara’s subcommittee on constitutional amendments has not set any hearing on Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 (RBH6) until the last session day on March 20. Congress’ recess is set from March 23 to April 28.

The House approved Resolution of Both Houses No. 7 (RBH7) on second reading last Wednesday.

In Prague, both Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Speaker Martin Romualdez, who were part of President Marcos’ delegation to the Czech Republic, said their chambers were on track to pass economic Cha-cha.

It was unclear, however, whether Zubiri and Romualdez were in agreement on the timeline for Charter change.

Romualdez posted on X a photo of him with Zubiri, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual and Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. taken at Prague Castle, the Czech Republic’s seat of government, shortly before the bilateral meeting there between President Marcos and Czech President Petr Pavel.

The state visit aims to strengthen “the bilateral cooperation and multilateral partnership between the two countries,” Romualdez said.

A source said the Senate had appealed to the House to set  the third and final approval of RBH7 before Congress’ adjournment on May 25.

“Maybe the Senate did not want the House to pass the resolution way ahead of them so they are asking if the House can, instead, approve RBH7 before the sine die adjournment,” the source said.

But Zubiri said he had no clue as to who was making the appeal.

Angara’s committee has so far conducted four public hearings on RBH6, on Feb 5, 12, 20 and March 5. At the hearings, the senators tackled the key elements of the proposal to amend specific economic provisions of the Constitution, particularly on public service, the education sector and advertising industry.

Legal luminaries, business executives and representatives from the education sector attended the first four public hearings.

RBH6 was supposed to counter the people’s initiative, believed to be a ploy by the leadership of the House of Representatives to compel both houses of Congress to vote jointly on proposed changes in the 1987 Constitution.

Senators are against joint voting, as votes from the more than 300 congressmen would certainly overwhelm their 24-member votes.

The issue triggered a word war between the two chambers, prompting President Marcos to step in by directing their leaders to let the Senate take the lead in the Cha-cha drive.

‘Likely’

A Cha-cha critic, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, said political amendments would likely follow amendments to economic provisions in the Constitution.

“We cannot really ascertain but many are suspecting that if we open our Constitution to economic Cha-cha, next to follow is political Cha-cha. You cannot control the agenda in a constituent assembly – and even in a constitutional convention,” Lagman told reporters.

Lagman noted that when members of the two chambers meet, “we can no longer control their agenda.”

“I am not saying we will come to that but there is a possibility that it is where we are going... The much-feared amendment of political provisions may happen then,” he maintained at the Tapatan media forum.

The lawmaker reiterated that there is no need to amend the 37-year-old Charter.

“The lifting of economic provisions, or what they described as restrictive, is unnecessary. It is not imperative because our country has not done a conducive economic environment like addressing the ease of doing business, on the rampant corruption in the government and on the unpredictability of government policy, slow internet speed and high electricity rate,” he added.

Lagman said the government should first address these problems before embarking on constitutional amendment.

But Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin said the proposed economic reforms should proceed, citing their “significant potential to improve the lives of Filipinos struggling in poverty.”

Garin said economic amendment could serve as a “catalyst for national development,” as she urged other lawmakers to prioritize the “interests of the Filipino people above all else.”

“Let’s allow Filipinos to uplift their lives because when that happens, we can sleep soundly. We can say we did out obligation to our people,” she added.

Earlier, Sen. Cynthia Villar said “there’s a chance” that seven senators, including herself and other allies of President Marcos, would vote against the proposed measure to amend certain economic provisions of the Constitution.

Open mind

Despite concerns over a possible rejection of RBH6 by a majority of senators, Angara said he remains hopeful that his colleagues would keep an open mind and consider the opinions of experts.

“As for me, I’d like to think that the senators have an open mind, so, if they hear something good here, they might change their minds. But of course, we respect each senator’s point of view. Each has its own point of view,” Angara said before the start of his committee’s hearing on March 5.

Angara assured critics that the proposed liberalization of education – as contained in RBH6 – is not targeting basic education but only higher technical and vocational education.

The senator gave the assurance after Department of Education Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas expressed the department’s opposition to the proposed amendments to Article 14, Section 4, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution.

“We already said the intention was not to open up basic education because of the importance of values formation and nationalism, among others,” Angara said.

Meanwhile, various groups are set to hold a rally outside the House of Representatives on March 20 to protest Cha-cha.

The No to Cha-cha Network, a coalition of groups against Charter change, said it would step up protest actions in anticipation of the House of Representatives’ approval of RBH7 on third and final reading anytime.

The coalition warned the public that RBH7 is just a ruse, stressing the agenda of lawmakers is to disregard the Senate and vote on their own to amend the Charter, particularly removing term limits. — Helen Flores, Sheila Crisostomo, Emmanuel Tupas