Lagman urges Marcos to diffuse political impasse amid heated Cha-cha talks

Edcel Lagman (Photo from House of Representatives FB page)

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. must intervene and diffuse a possible impasse between the two chambers of Congress amid heated charter change talks, Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman said on Wednesday.

Lagman said Marcos’ intervention would be essential in ensuring that both the executive and legislative departments focus on improving the country’s economy and people’s living quality.

“The brouhaha on charter change has pushed the Senate and the House of Representatives into a confrontation which is divisive and disruptive,” Lagman said in a statement.

“President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. must broker a solution to diffuse the impending impasse in order that the executive and legislative departments can truly focus on the overriding crises in the economy, food security, escalating prices of basic commodities, miseducation, ballooning debt stock and debt servicing, and the continuing aggression of China in the West Philippine Sea,” he added.

The Senate and the House are currently at a crossroads when it comes to charter change. Last December 2023, House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. called for the resumption of charter change talks to amend the 1987 Constitution’s restrictive economic provisions.

However, since the Senate has failed to act on Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6, Gonzales said the House would entertain People’s Initiative (PI) proposals — one of the three methods of charter change identified by the 1987 Constitution.

Come January, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said there was an agreement between him, President Marcos, and Speaker Romualdez about the Senate pushing for RBH No. 6, where the House would adopt the changes that the upper chamber would make.

READ: Done deal? Zubiri says House OK to adopt Senate version of Cha-cha 

But recently, there have been reports of senators retracting support for RBH No. 6 as the House leadership is supposedly behind the PI push.  On Tuesday, all 24 senators signed a manifesto rejecting the PI, amid concerns that the petition is pushing for joint voting once proposed amendments are up for ratification.

With the joint voting, senators fear that the Senate’s stand would be disregarded as over 300 lawmakers can easily overpower the vote of 24 senators.

READ: Senate manifesto nixes people’s initiative, warns of no-el scenario 

Lagman also noted that the 1987 Constitution should not be seen as the culprit of the crises that the country has seen, as fault falls more on the implementation of its provision and other “flawed policies.”

“The 1987 Constitution is blameless for these continuing crises which are due to flawed policies, skewed implementation of laws, continuing official corruption, and lack of stability and predictability of government policies,” Lagman said.

“The question on whether a constituent assembly must vote jointly or separately must be resolved by the Supreme Court in a proper case, and must not be construed by partisans who have ulterior motives on the voting procedure by the constituent assembly,” he added.