Leyte Rep. Richard Gomez. PHOTO FROM GOMEZ’S FACEBOOK
MANILA, Philippines — Leyte 4th District Rep. Richard Gomez has questioned the changes made to the divorce bill’s voting tally, asking if the number of affirmative votes was changed just to generate a majority vote.
Gomez in a statement on Friday said he is puzzled with the changes made to the voting results of House Bill (HB) No. 9349 or the proposed Absolute Divorce Act, which was approved by the House of Representatives on third and final reading last Wednesday.
Originally, HB No. 9349 was approved with 126 affirmative votes, 109 negative votes, and 20 abstentions. However, House Secretary General Reginald Velasco released a memorandum late Wednesday — sent to reporters on Thursday morning — clarifying that there were 131 affirmative votes.
READ: House revises ‘yes’ vote on divorce bill’s approval to 131 from 126
“I am puzzled about the change in the number of lawmakers who voted ‘Yes’ to House Bill No. 9349 or the proposed Absolute Divorce Act from 126 to 131. They have already recorded the initial number of affirmative votes, and this has been reported and announced in the plenary. But now they are saying that there was an error in the counting. How did that happen?” Gomez asked.
“Was the adjustment made to address statements that the motion to approve HBN 9349 was ‘lost’ when the body failed to get the majority votes of the members who were present during last (Wednesday’s) session?” he added.
Gomez, who is an Assistant Majority Leader, voted against HB No. 9349.
Concerns about the voting results were first raised by former Senate president Vicente Sotto III, who believes that the divorce bill should have not been approved because it only got 126 votes.
Sotto explained on Wednesday night that since the tally is 126-109-20 (affirmative-negative-abstentions), it means 255 House members were considered for the quorum, or participated in the voting process.
A majority vote, if 255 members are to be considered, should be 128 according to Sotto.
But staunch divorce bill defender and Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman insists that HB No. 9349 was approved properly, because abstentions are not counted.
Lagman also confirmed to INQUIRER.net that the passage of the divorce bill was anchored on Section 117 of the 19th Congress’ House rules, part of which states that an “abstention shall not be counted as a vote. Unless otherwise provided by the Constitution or by these rules, a majority of those voting, there being a quorum, shall decide the issue.”
READ: Sotto says divorce bill lacked votes in House; Lagman says abstentions not counted
But after the voting tally was changed, Sotto believes it was adjusted because he raised concerns — given that with the new results, 260 members participated, and the majority vote of 260 is 131 members.
The bill was approved with 131 lawmakers voting in the affirmative.
READ: Sotto insists divorce bill was approved incorrectly: That’s not legal
Gomez meanwhile seeks a clarification if the changing of votes outside of the session is allowed.
“In my personal assessment, I believe that the approval of the divorce bill was lost when it failed to get the majority approval of the lawmakers present when it was put to a vote. For me, as we speak, HBN 9349 has not been approved on third and final reading,” he said.
“Likewise, I would like to be clarified: Is correcting the number of votes outside of the session allowed under House Rules? Because if making errors in the counting of votes is a ‘regular’ thing, how then can we be assured now sure that all the previous votes counted in relation to other measures were correct?” he asked.
This is not the first time that voting tallies for bills approved on third reading or resolutions that required a nominal vote were changed. However, the changes were made moments after the bills were passed.