Zubiri: Senate open to settle ‘impasse’ with House amid renewed word war

Senators are open to patching things up with their counterparts in the House of Representatives after the latter adopted a resolution expressing support for House Speaker Martin Romualdez in the face of what they described as “intense assault” from the Senate.

This was assured by Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri during Monday’s session when the newly adopted House resolution was brought to their attention.

“Our office is open for a talk with the Speaker (Martin Romualdez),” Zubiri said after the House of Representatives adopted House Resolution No. 156.

HRN 156, which was overwhelmingly supported by 286 members of the lower chamber, expressed “unwavering support” for Romualdez in the face of a so-called “intense assault” from the Senate.

Likewise, the resolution charged the upper chamber of violating the principle of inter-parliamentary courtesy as well as undue interference in the performance of its legislative and constituent functions.

For the good of the country, Zubiri said he is willing to sit down with Romualdez to stop the squabble between the two chambers.

“For the good of the country, we will do it. As I said, this is not personal. We are not taking steps to improve the lives of the senators. We only work here to improve our country,” he said.

“For the good of the country, our office is open to put an end to this squabble,” he added.

‘Very unfortunate’

Zubiri issued the remarks after Senator Jinggoy Estrada tackled the House resolution before the plenary.

He noted that he found the latest move of their counterparts in the lower chamber “very unfortunate.”

“On my part, as your chosen leader for this institution. I would like to say that this is very unfortunate that it had to come down to this,” he said.

Among those mentioned in the House resolution was the ongoing investigation by the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation hearing into the alleged payoffs for the signature drive for the people's initiative.

Lawmakers from the lower chamber said the upper chamber conducted hearings on PI “without clear legislative purpose.”

“We deal on facts. Very clear that in the last two hearings, the facts have come out. The facts have been coming out, whether it is for or against the topic or decisions at hand. So be it, but we are just dealing with facts,” Zubiri said.

“How do we end this? I do not know. This impasse between the House of Representatives and the Senate,” he added.

The Senate chief stressed that the upper chamber is not at fault in the latest clash between the two chambers.

“Again, many of our colleagues like Senator (Sonny) Angara and Senator Bato de la Rosa have already said ceasefire. As a matter of fact, I have not been discussing the issue,” he said.

“I have been telling the media to lower the temperature for us to focus on working. However, it seems like the House of Representatives does not want to do the same. It is no longer our fault,” he added.