IN SESSION Members of the House of Representatives hold a session on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. (INQUIRER file photo / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE)
MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives is set to begin this Monday its plenary debates on the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 7 this Monday.
The measure seeks to amend the three economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
In a statement on Sunday, Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd District Representative Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr. said the plenary will discuss the Committee of the Whole report.
This report endorsed “the approval of the resolution without amendment.”
He added the time for the plenary debates is expected to be shorter, wherein RBH No. 7 is scheduled for approval on Wednesday (March 13).
“In plenary, the proponents of the economic Charter changes will defend their proposals,” Gonzales, one of the principal authors of the resolution, said.
“The plan is to have three days of debates, with the second-reading vote set shortly after the termination of discussions and the period for amendments on the third day,” he noted.
For the third and final approval, Gonzales said the House of Representatives is sticking to its timeline before or until the Holy Week break on March 23.
On Wednesday, the Committee of the Whole House approved RBH No. 7 after six days of hearings.
RBH No. 7 is almost an exact reproduction of RBH No. 6, introduced by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senators Loren Legarda, and Juan Edgardo Angara in the Senate.
Both resolutions are titled ‘A Resolution of Both Houses of Congress proposing amendments to certain economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, particularly on Articles Xll, XlV, and XVl.’
The RBH No. 7 suggests the insertion of the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law,” which will empower Congress to lift or relax present economic restrictions in the Charter, and the addition of the qualifier “basic” in Article XlV.
“RBH No. 7 and RBH No. 6 also restate the provision of the Constitution that Congress may propose amendments upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members,” as House Speaker Martin Romualdez’s office explained.