Imee on Senate-HOR row: ‘Is there still hope?’

Senator Imee Marcos is losing hope that the impasse between the Senate and House of Representatives will be settled following the adoption of a resolution expressing support for the Speaker in the face of "intense assault" from the Senate.

“Is there still hope because we have had numerous meetings with them but they have not honored what has been agreed upon?” Senator Marcos told reporters when asked her opinion on the suggestion of Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri Speaker Martin Romualdez and having a one-on-one meeting.

On Monday, members of the House of Representatives adopted House Resolution No. 156, which expressed the “unwavering support” for Romualdez in the face of a so-called “intense assault” from the Senate.

Likewise, the resolution alleged 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.

Senator Marcos said she would let Zubiri handle the issue as he was the one made the agreement with their counterparts in the lower chamber.

“I think we should leave it in the wisdom of the Senate President because he after all conducted those face-to-face meetings during which time and again the agreements were violated,” she said, referring to the Resolution of Both Houses No. 6.

Zubiri previously said that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asked the Senate to instead take the lead in reviewing the economic provisions of the Constitution in front of Romualdez during the vin d’ honneur at the Palace.

Hence, he filed RBH No. 6 which proposes amendments to certain economic provisions of the Constitution to “avert” the “Constitutional crisis” between the House of Representatives and the Senate

What about the President?

Meanwhile, Senator Marcos said she does not think that involving the president would make the situation better for the two chambers.

“He already mediated in early January – the first one with the RBH 6. It was not followed, hence, the Senate failed,” she stressed.

The lawmaker also answered the allegations made by their colleagues in the lower chamber, particularly the alleged violation of the Senate in the interparliamentary courtesy.

“If we are going to think about it, what is left in the interparliamentary courtesy when they are trying to kill the Senate,” she said.

“Despite this, we are still recognizing the interparliamentary courtesy. I did not issue a subpoena against their employees, which are not covered by the immunity,” she added.

Among those flagged 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.”

Marcos, who chairs the Senate panel, is leading the said investigation.

During the previous hearings last week, several witnesses claimed that the payoffs given to those who signed the petition came from members of the House of Representatives.