To the Senate, the People’s Initiative purportedly carried out by several members of the House of Representatives to amend the 1987 Constitution, is a “dead issue,” Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said Thursday.
In a television interview, Zubiri said the upper chamber’s position on the PI was cemented following Commission on Elections Chair George Garcia’s affirmation that there was no existing law that provides rules for a PI.
“As far as he (Garcia) is concerned, there is no enabling law. That is why he cannot pass a resolution on the rules because the rules approved in 2020 were flawed,” Zubiri said.
“As far as we in the Senate are concerned on the PI, it’s a dead issue. That is why I don’t want to keep going back to this point in time, and moving forward we’re doing this particular process,” he added.
The 24-member Senate heavily criticized the signature drive for a PI that proposes joint voting by the Senate and the House of Representatives on constitutional amendments via a constituent assembly, or con-ass.
Over the past month, members of both chambers engaged in heated verbal exchanges regarding the PI allegedly carried out by the House.
Zubiri on Wednesday, however, announced that he and Speaker Martin Romualdez had agreed to end the rift between the two chambers on the PI.
The two legislative leaders reached the agreement during the 100th birthday celebration of Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile on 14 February at Malacañang.
“We discussed how we should put this behind us, all these last two months of animosity, and start working professionally for the country, and I totally agreed,” Zubiri said.
“I mean, we can disagree on many points, but we owe it to the people to work together and set aside any personal differences to be able to work professionally and pass legislation to help our country. For the sake of the country, we had to do that,” the Senate chief added.
Zubiri said he is hoping their counterparts in the House of Representatives would respect the process undertaken by the Senate on Resolution of Both Houses 6, which proposes amendments to economic provisions of the Constitution on public services, education, and the advertising industry.
“I hope that the House respects us in this process because it’s a very important process. Again, we are talking about the Constitution, the heart of our country,” he said.
“This is the heart and soul of our country. So we are taking time to discuss it. I believe there are more sectors that are going to be involved in this,” he said.
RBH 6, which was filed by Zubiri, Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, and Senator Juan Edgardo Angara last month, was the Senate’s answer to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s order to the chamber to take the lead on amending the economic provisions of the Constitution, which proponents of Charter change deemed “restrictive.”
Asked about the various statements of several members of the House on RBH 6, Zubiri refused to comment, saying that “they are free to amend their own rules.”
“I will not make any comment on the process in the House. They are free to amend their own rules. We give them that parliamentary courtesy. Unlike other congressmen, I am so sad to hear this, telling us what to do,” he said.
Citing points previously raised by the late Fr. Joaquin Bernas, one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, Zubiri said the two chambers must vote on RBH 6 separately.
“[We] should respect their processes and their own rules, but again, our RBH 6 is not a constitutional assembly. So, it’s creating a legislative assembly. We consider the Senate an assembly to be able to amend these pieces of legislation,” he said.
“It can be done, like legislation as long as we get the three-fourths votes for each and every amendment. And then we can meet in a bicameral with the House,” he added.
He continued: “We eventually have to vote again on the reconciled bicameral version. Another three-fourths votes to make it final.”
Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of Cebu expressed its opposition to the PI in support of the stance of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on the matter.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said while he respected the decision of individuals who signed the petition for Charter change, that the exercise was marred by allegations of signature-buying.
