With PI shelved, Dalipe asks Senate to stop hearings, act on RBH 6 instead

MANILA, Philippines — House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe has appealed to the Senate to stop the hearings on the people’s initiative (PI) since it has been suspended by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), urging the upper chamber to focus on the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 instead.

Dalipe on Friday said that since even the Comelec has even asked proponents of the PI to retrieve the signatures used for the petition, Congress should focus on RBH No. 6 instead.

If the PI is already a non-factor, Dalipe asked why the Senate was still investigating it, adding that it might be just a waste of taxpayers’ money.

“Magtulungan na lang para maipasa ang RBH 6; sigurado wala na ang PI (Let’s just help each other pass the RBH 6; for sure there’s no more PI),” Dalipe said.

“This means that the PI is in the freezer, for now. So what is there to investigate, unless the purpose is to target some personalities, embarrass them? The Senate inquiry is just a waste of taxpayers’ money that could otherwise be used for productive purposes,” he added.

The Senate committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation, headed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s sister Senator Imee Marcos, is currently probing allegations that people were bribed to sign in favor of the PI.

Senator Marcos started the hearing last January 30 and held another hearing in Davao City on Friday.

Marcos and her colleagues in the Senate have accused the House leadership, particularly her cousin, Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, of being behind the PI.  Last January 23, all 24 senators signed a manifesto rejecting the PI, as it supposedly pushes for the abolition of the Senate.

READ: Warring egos lead to public good 

Under the PI, the House and the Senate would vote jointly on the proposed amendments, which means that 300 House members can overturn the vote of 24 senators.

But Romualdez and House leaders have maintained that they had nothing to do with the PI, as the Speaker was only facilitating — not orchestrating — the petition upon the proponents’ request.

Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who heads the House committee on constitutional amendments, also reminded the Senate that they are only pushing for economic amendments to the 1987 Constitution, noting that RBH No. 6 was already passed in the House last March 2023.

READ: Rodriguez: There would be no PI if Senate acts on RBH 6 before Holy Week

Last January 31, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri vowed to discuss RBH No. 6 by the second week of February — which the House welcomed, hoping that it will be the start of political quarrel simmering down.

READ: Solons hope Senate commitment with RBH 6 would ‘simmer’ down tensions