Senate to issue Cha-cha rules before sub-panel ends discussion

Senate of the Philippines. (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

Updated on March 26, 2024 at 12:51 p.m.

MANILA, Philippines — The Rules of the Senate on Charter change (Cha-cha) will be out before the discussion on the issue ends at the committee level, according to Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, who heads the Senate Committee on Rules.

“We’re definitely on the right track, and we’ll be ready before the culmination of the sub-committee hearing,” Villanueva said in a message to reporters on Tuesday.

He was referring to the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments tasked with tackling Resolution of Both Houses  No. 6  (RBH 6), proposing changes to certain economic provisions of the Constitution.

“After our hearing, we asked the secretariat to collate and present to the members of the rules committee our draft committee report then I’ll sponsor it on the floor and approve it,” the majority leader added.

Villanueva said, though, that he has yet to see the draft report prepared by the committee secretariat.

“It’s not that complicated. [It’s] really simple, just like the HOR (House of Representative) rules,” he said in a separate message.

He also stressed that constitutional amendments must be approved separately by the Senate and the House.

“When amending the Constitution naman, both houses shoud vote separately,” Villanueva said. “That’s what’s in the HOR rules that we will follow.”

Villanueva pointed to Section 144 of the House rules, which specifically states that “the adoption of resolutions proposing amendments to or revisions of the Constitution shall follow the procedure for the enactment of bills.”

At present, a bill or a resolution is separately approved by the House and the Senate.

It was Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero who earlier raised the lack of rules in the Senate on how it should adopt or reject proposed constitutional amendments.

Escudero also cited Section 144 of the House rules, which provides that any proposal to amend or revise the Constitution should be made through a resolution.

RBH 6 remains pending in the subcommittee being headed by Sen. Sonny Angara.

Its counterpart measure in the House was approved before Congress went on a break last week for the Lenten season.