House not rushing Senate on RBH 6, Cha-cha

MANILA, Philippines — Two leaders of the House of Representatives on Tuesday clarified that they are not trying to impose a deadline on the Senate in terms of discussing Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 and that they are only basing it on Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri’s previous commitments.

RBH No. 6 is the resolution calling on amendments to the 1987 Constitution’s economic provisions adopted by the House last March 2023.

“Regarding what the Senate President said, we have transcripts of that press conference last January 15, 2024… the Senate president said. I have a video showing that these amendments are very simple. I don’t see any problem finishing in this quarter. Before the Holy Week break, I don’t see any problem. Because these are just three issues and are very simple,” Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. said, speaking partly in Filipino, in a briefing on Tuesday.

“That’s what the Senate president said, and that is what the House has been talking about… So we are not imposing on or directing the senators, we are not instructing them, we are just basing these from their leader’s statements.”

Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, who was present in the briefing, echoed Gonzales’ statements about the timeline not coming from the House.

“The timeline was not given by the House of Representatives. We got that timeline during a statement made by the Senate President, and we were so elated and happy that at least with the words of the Senate president issued last January 15, he said something about the first quarter. So we were happy,” Dalipe said.

“You know, in the House of Representatives, we take our work seriously by working on it with a sense of urgency. All of the proposed bills here, whether it is the legislative priority of the President or Ledac [Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council] priority, Sona [State of the Nation Address] priority, we always act with a sense of urgency,” he added.

The Senate’s March deadline was mentioned in a briefing last January 31 by House leaders, including Gonzales and Dalipe.

Dalipe also stressed that Zubiri made the self-imposed deadline of passing RBH No. 6 by March.

On Monday, however, Zubiri said the Senate would not succumb to the deadline pressure, noting that the chamber would carefully consider proposed amendments to the Constitution.

Sen. Sonny Angara heads the subcommittee tackling the resolution and said they are looking at an October deadline for RBH No. 6 discussions.