Poe: Railroading not Senate tradition

Sen. Grace Poe—Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate Social Media Unit

Two members of the Senate gave fresh signals that the chamber won’t be as quick as the House of Representatives in discussing proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution.

The House’s passage of Resolution of Both Houses No. 7, which seeks to amend certain economic provisions of the Charter, “should not affect the pace and manner by which the Senate conducts the deliberations” on its counterpart measure, Sen. Imee Marcos said on Thursday.

Manner of voting

“I think one very important issue that should be addressed is the set of rules that will govern the voting procedure of the constituent assembly,” she said, referring to one of the three methods by which Charter change (Cha-cha) may be proposed. The other two are a people’s initiative and a constitutional convention, wherein the House and the Senate will constitute themselves into a constituent assembly to tackle the proposed amendments.

Resolutions of Both Houses No. 6 and RBH 7 are exact copies in seeking to relax foreign ownership restrictions in the country’s public utilities, educational institutions, and advertising under Articles 12, 14, and 16 of the 1987 Constitution, except for the manner of voting in the constituent assembly. The Senate version maintains that it must be done by both chambers separately.

In a message to reporters, Sen. Grace Poe noted that the Senate had already started hearing the issue even before its transmittal in the form of RBH 6.“We have always taken into consideration the other chamber’s priorities, but the Senate has never been in the tradition of railroading any measure,” she stressed, adding that all bills would be “thoroughly debated and major stakeholders respectfully consulted without exception.”

“Whether it’s a constitutional amendment or a legislative franchise, the Senate prioritizes measures according to the needs of the country. The people set the deadline; we just listen,” Poe said.

The Senate subcommittee on constitutional amendments and code revision, chaired by Sen. Sonny Angara, is currently leading Cha-cha talks in the Senate.

4 hearings so far

The committee has conducted four public hearings on RBH 6 so far, hearing the views of legal luminaries, business executives, and representatives from the education sector.

As the Cha-cha discussions shifted to the Senate, progressive group Bayan Muna on Thursday called on senators to reject it, warning of the grave consequences of giving foreign powers full control over public utilities.

READ: Cha-cha not a shortcut

“We urge the senators to reject RBH 7 as it will not solve our country’s problem of poverty and corruption but could, in fact, worsen it,” Bayan Muna chair Neri Colmenares said.

Tight deadline

House members could only hope the Senate would match their pace.

This was acknowledged by House Deputy Majority Leader and Tingog Rep. Jude Acidre on Thursday as Congress is set to go on a monthlong break until April 29.

READ: Solons prefer Cha-cha plebiscite to be held before 2025 elections

“As far as the House is concerned, we’ve already fulfilled our mandate,” he said, referring to Wednesday’s vote approving RBH 7 on the third and final reading. “Now we’re looking at our friends in the [Senate] as to what they will do, because [the] actions of the House have to be reciprocated by the Senate.”

The House overwhelmingly passed RBH 7 with 287 affirmative votes and only eight voting against it.