INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 which calls for the creation of a constitutional convention to amend the Constitution, was approved by the House of Representatives on second reading during its plenary session on Tuesday.
RBH No. 6 which is a consolidated version of all resolutions calling for charter change through a constitutional convention, was approved via viva voce.
But before the resolution was approved, several lawmakers — including Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman and Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel — questioned the need for charter change and the method that the House was pursuing.
Lagman earlier assailed the ongoing deliberation on RBH No. 6, believing that any constitutional step should be done by a joint session of Congress — meaning including the Senate.
He was countered by the sponsor, Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who chairs the Committee on Constitutional Amendments. Rodriguez said that the amendment provisions of the Constitution do not explicitly state the need for a joint session.
After the voting, Manuel made a manifestation, saying that he hoped his fellow lawmakers would be physically present at the session hall during the deliberation of other bills on charter change.
Manuel noted that only around 40 lawmakers were inside the plenary hall when voice voting — which determines the winners by which side has more voices — was done.
“I think, for the purposes of transparency, it’s better for Filipino citizens to know that today we talked about our Constitution. But today — of course with all due respect to all our fellow legislators who are now physically present during our second reading — we conducted our voice vote with only around 40 out of the 300-plus members of the House,” Manuel said in a mix of Filipino and English.
“And we hope that in the upcoming deliberations, we have more members who can participate and join our voting,” he added.
RBH No. 6 is a consolidated version of all calls for a constitutional convention under Committee Report No. 323. The Committee on Constitutional Amendments approved the resolution last Feb. 20.
Meanwhile, the still unnumbered substitute bill which would be the implementing law, if enacted, of RBH No. 6 was approved by the same committee on Monday.