Fissured

The relationship between the two chambers of our Congress may have been irreparably damaged by the controversy over the people’s initiative to amend the Constitution.

This past week, harsh words were exchanged between congressmen and senators. The feud continues to flourish and shows little sign of abating.

Earlier this week, House Majority Leader Mannix Dalipe bluntly asked the Senate to stop its probe of the people’s initiative. Sen. Imee Marcos, however, insists on moving ahead with an investigation on charges of bribery and misuse of public funds related to the gathering of signatures by proponents of Charter change. Marcos chairs the Senate committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation.

Two weeks ago, the senators unanimously supported a strongly worded “manifesto” condemning the proposal to convene a constituent assembly where members of the two chambers vote jointly. The senators feel this is a tactic to render the Senate irrelevant in the Charter change process and, therefore, opens the door to wholesale rewriting of the Constitution. This could produce a shift to a unicameral assembly, dissolving the Senate as a distinct institution.

The Comelec, for its part, suspended acceptance of signatures submitted by Charter change proponents led by the group PIRMA. Signatures gathered for purposes of a people’s initiative are subject to verification by the poll body. Considering the Constitution requires 12 percent of all voters and a minimum of three percent per district to signify support for the initiative, verifying the signatures will be a gargantuan task.

The senators feel betrayed that many congressmen participated in the PIRMA initiative even as the upper chamber was prepared to affirm Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 (RBH 6) that commits both the Senate and the House to act on amendments to the restrictive economic provisions contained in the 1987 Constitution.

Senate President Miguel Zubiri, after conferring with President Bongbong Marcos on the Charter change initiative, committed his chamber’s support for RBH 6. A resolution sponsored by Zubiri himself, along with Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda and Sen. Sonny Angara, was filed to form a committee to study the matter.

RBH 6 limits the amendments process to Articles XII, XIV and XVI that cover the economic provisions. The goal is to lift the restrictions on foreign investments to make the economy more attractive to direct investments.

Zubiri sees the Senate’s resolution on RBH 6 as a signal of good faith. The Senate was prepared to cooperate with the congressmen seeking constitutional amendments. In turn, the senators expected no underhanded effort to undermine the role of their chamber in the process of Charter change. The people’s initiative, seen as masterminded by the congressmen, ripped the fabric of trust necessary for the two chambers to work productively. 

The word war between the two legislative chambers serves no useful end. The animosity will hamper the legislative process, where much work needs to be done. A harmonious relationship between the two chambers is presumed in the bicameral legislature.

Inter-chamber relations have clearly deteriorated the past few days. Considering how congressional leaders have rallied around Speaker Martin Romualdez, the task of restoring a normal working relationship between the two chambers probably falls on Senate President Zubiri.

Zubiri is an amiable politician with very close ties to the President. He is best positioned to bring together leaders of the two chambers to rebuild trust among our legislators. To be sure, after all that has happened and all that has been said, trust is difficult to restore. But Zubiri must live up to the challenge of rebuilding harmonious working relations. There is no other leader of stature able to do it.

Some sort of “ceasefire” was called to halt the word war between senators and congressmen. But that has been breached more than observed.

Zubiri needs to work the back channels to reduce the temptation to grandstand. He needs to find a mutually acceptable formula to reconcile the public positions taken by some senators and congressmen.

That work will not be easy. The House leadership is deeply invested in the effort to amend the Charter by way of a people’s initiative. The Senate, for its part, is probably fighting for the institution’s life.

Sentenced

CNN Philippines announced it was closing shop because of huge business losses. That calls attention to the great financial challenges facing what is now called “legacy media” due to declining advertising revenues. The challenges are amplified by misdemeanor within the media organizations themselves.

This week, the Makati Metropolitan Trial Court found a former advertising executive guilty of estafa. He was handed a prison sentence ranging from a minimum of four months to a maximum of two years.

Arnold C. Liong, former FCB Manila president, was found “guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of estafa defined and punished under Article 315 (2) (a) of the Revised Penal Code.” Prosecutors accused Liong of “falsely representing to have incurred business-related expenses and other expenditures.” 

The crime was committed from January to December 2013 when Liong filed claims for reimbursement of expenses amounting to over P2 million. As president and CEO of the company, he himself approved his own reimbursement claims. The reimbursement claims were filed by the defendant, the court found, “knowing fully well that said representations are false and fraudulent.” These included receipts for grocery items, condominium maintenance expenses, hotel accommodations, sketch books and coconut juice.

In addition to the jail term, the defendant is ordered to pay back the falsely reimbursed amount.