Despite diverging stances and conflicting timelines, the House of Representatives expressed confidence that the Senate could pass their version of Resolution of Both Houses 6, which aims to relax certain restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

"As of now that's still speculative. [But I] still believe that the Senate will be able to pass it," House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe told reporters on Monday.

Dalipe made the remark unfazed by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri's admission last week that it would be a "big challenge" for him to muster at least three-fourths vote, or 18 out of 24 votes in favor of RBH 6.

According to Zubiri, the verbal punches that members of the House and the Senate threw at one another were one of the reasons for halting the progress of the contentious measure.

In the House, representatives have initiated their RBH 7, which is a replica of the Senate's RBH 6.

Both measures aim to eliminate the economic restrictions on foreign ownership in public utilities, educational facilities, and the advertising industry, covered under Articles 12, 14, and 16, respectively, said to be hampering the country's economic potential.

The only distinction is the manner of voting.

The voting issue to carry on with Charter change has been a long-running dispute between the Senate and the House of Representatives as senators are opposed to joint voting, or convening the two chambers of Congress as one body, in fear that they will be outnumbered by the 300-plus House members.

In a press conference on Monday, members of the House turned down the proposal put forward by Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, the chairman of the Senate subcommittee on RBH 6, to seek President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s intervention and persuade senators who are opposed to the measure.

Deputy Speaker David Suarez said this is an excessive demand to the Chief Executive.

"A call to the President asking him to convince senators further, I think, is a little bit too much on the President, given that the President has already mentioned it many times, on many occasions, his position on economic amendments that the country really needs the [economic Charter change]," Suarez said.

Marcos has tasked the Senate to lead in reviewing the economic provisions of the Constitution, which led to the filing of RBH 6.

"The writing is very clearly written on the wall," Suarez stressed. "So what more convincing do we need here?" Suarez said.

1-Rider Partylist Rep. Rodge Gutierrez echoed Suarez's rhetoric, citing the President's previous statement at the Philippine Constitutional Day celebration organized by the Philippine Constitutional Association last month.

"On Senator Angara's statement, I think the messaging was clear. It was made very, very clear for us at least, the signal from the President was when we were celebrating [Philippine] Constitution Day when he spoke before Philconsa that Cha-cha should continue," Gutierrez recalled.

Over the past month, members of the House and the Senate have been locked in a verbal duel concerning the controversial people's initiative to amend the Charter, which the senators suspect was orchestrated by congressmen.

The House is keen to wind up the deliberations on RBH 7 before Congress goes into Holy Week recess on 22 March.

The Senate, however, is one with the President to synchronize the Cha-cha plebiscite with the 2025 local and congressional elections as it would be cost-effective.