Palace mum on meeting with solons

Malacañang on Friday remained mum regarding the canceled Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council meeting earlier this week.

Instead of the LEDAC meeting, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. held separate meetings with senators and congressmen on the conflict between the two houses of Congress on the issue of the People’s Initiative for amending the Constitution.

The Presidential Communications Office declined to provide details on what was discussed during the meeting between the President and the lawmakers.

“The meetings were held in executive session, so all matters tackled therein are treated as confidential,” Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil told reporters in a Viber message.

The LEDAC is a consultative body to the President, tasked with discussing government programs and crucial policies aimed at realizing the country’s economic goals.

Tensions have heightened between the two houses of Congress on the attempt to amend the Constitution through a People’s Initiative.

Proposed changes

The initiative involves collecting the signatures of a percentage of registered voters who favor amending the Charter.

Although members of the House have expressed support for the PI, all 24 senators have strongly opposed the purported indirect method in pushing for Charter change (Cha-cha).

If the people’s initiative is successful, both houses of Congress would convene to amend the Constitution and vote as one body on the amendments. This has raised apprehensions in the 24-member Senate that would be outnumbered by the House members who number more than 300.

Meanwhile, Senate President Miguel Zubiri expressed the fear on Friday that a constitutional crisis may occur if the present situation continues between the Senate and House of Representatives.

Responding to the letter addressed to him by Romualdez, Zubiri noted that there was no discussion among the senators about the latter’s proposal to come up with an “alternative” Senate-led People’s Initiative.

“I have received and read the letter of Speaker Martin Romualdez on the legislative efforts to effect changes to the 1987 Constitution. The Speaker will have our reply on Monday,” Zubiri said in a statement.

“As for his suggestion of an alternative people’s initiative emanating from the Senate, there have been no discussions on this. We believe that any legitimate People’s Initiative must be genuinely led by the people,” he added.

He continued: “The Senate still maintains that this people’s initiative, in its current form and the way the signatures are being collected, is flawed and unconstitutional.”