House urges Senate to end people’s initiative ‘witch hunt’

Quezon 2nd District Rep. David Suarez (Photo from his Facebook page)

Leaders of the House of Representatives urged the Senate to end its investigation of supposed irregularities in the ongoing people’s initiative (PI) to amend the 1987 Constitution, calling the probe a “witch hunt” that is wasting taxpayers’ time and money.

Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales stressed that “as the hearings have shown, no public funds have been used for the people’s initiative nor were there any national agencies that were used.”

Deputy Speaker and Quezon Rep. David Suarez said that the continuation of the Senate hearings was nothing but a witch hunt, since witnesses denied that they did not get any money for the initiative.

“While it is crucial to investigate any allegations of misconduct, especially those that could affect constitutional processes, the consistent lack of corroborative testimonies suggest that this investigation may not be the best use of our legislative body’s time and resources,” he added.

Waste of time

Suarez said the hearing in Davao presided by Sen. Imee Marcos “was a huge waste of time … they should have just poured their efforts to help those who were hit by the typhoon.”

“My request to our senator friends, please just focus on Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 because it [will] be the answer to the progress for the Philippines and I hope that on Monday, you will start working on it,” he added.

Zamboanga City Rep. Manuel Dalipe, the House’s majority leader, similarly urged senators to instead pour their efforts in making sure that RBH 6 pass before Congress adjourns this March.

“The PI is in the freezer for now,” Dalipe said, referring to the Commission on Elections’ decision to shelve all proceedings related to the people’s initiative, pending a review of its rules and procedures.

“So what is there to investigate, unless the purpose is to target some personalities and embarrass them?”

While Dalipe did not name names, the House leadership earlier this week has been trying to defend Speaker Martin Romualdez, whom senators accused of masterminding the PI and using public funds to bribe people into signing the initiative.

‘Let’s help each other’

“The Senate inquiry is just a waste of taxpayers’ money that could otherwise be used for productive purposes,” Dalipe added. “Let’s just help each other to have RBH 6 passed and the PI will be done for sure.”

The Senate leadership earlier promised to take up RBH 6 next week in hopes of ending an acrimonious word war between both chambers of Congress.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri filed RBH 6 last month in an apparent bid to keep attempts to amend the Constitution in the ambit of standard legislation in contrast to a people’s initiative, which would make congressional intervention undesirable and unnecessary.

Meanwhile, the Senate appears to be in no rush to approve RBH 6, with all 24 senators decrying the ongoing PI as a House ploy to railroad constitutional amendments.

“We’re just starting the discussons on RBH 6 and these should not be rushed,” said Sen. Nancy Binay.

“Besides, we need to listen and hear out all opinions … We want to encourage more public dialogues, and multi-sectoral consultations by opening the fora to both solicited and unsolicited studies and through careful consultations necessary to an informed choice and an informed constituency.”