Year of the House: Chamber bares fangs
Graphics by: Lance Uy
MANILA, Philippines—To say that news cycles centered on the House of Representatives in 2024 would be an understatement.
Even before the year started, what was considered as the lower chamber of Congress ranked high in terms of controversies, generating millions of views and engagements on its social media pages.
There never seemed to be an “off-day” or a slow news day in the House: when there are no significant committee hearings, the House leadership would either look for issues to tackle, discuss bills of national relevance, hold press briefings, or go out of town to check the implementation of the government’s aid programs.
It may be easy to say that the highlight of the House’s year was the huge attention that went the way of committees investigating the past administration’s drug war and the alleged confidential fund misuse of Vice President Sara Duterte’s offices — those conducted by the quad committee and the committee on good government.
However, looking back at 2024 would have to start way before that, in order to understand how the House in the 19th Congress cemented its status as one of the busiest ever.
Article continues after this advertisementPeople’s Initiative
On December 12, 2023, the possibility of an economic charter change (Cha-cha) floated after Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. confirmed that the House leadership intends to tackle Cha-cha proposals by early 2024.
Article continues after this advertisementThe proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution, found in a Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 and RBH No. 7 sought to address the slow turnover of investment pledges secured during overseas trips by opening several sectors to foreign business ownership.
This, however, set off one of the more intense debates between House members and senators in recent memory.
With two of the three modes of amending the Constitution failing, Cha-cha advocates were left with no recourse but to push for a People’s Initiative (PI), basically a signature campaign. Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (second district), chairperson of the House committee on constitutional amendments, noted that PI was borne out of the Senate’s inaction on Cha-cha bills.
READ: Rodriguez blames Senate inaction on Cha-cha bills why PI gained traction
After the PI’s signature campaign gained traction in early January, former Senate president Juan Miguel Zubiri said he, Romualdez, and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. have agreed that the Senate would just push for their own version of RBH No. 6.
But eventually, all 24 senators signed a manifesto against the PI, claiming that the campaign would have the House and the Senate voting jointly on proposed amendments. Such would overpower the Senate’s 24 votes compared to more than 200 in the House
READ: Senate manifesto nixes people’s initiative, warns of no-el scenario https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1892729/senates-manifesto-nixes-peoples-initiative-warns-of-no-el-scenario
Senator Joel Villanueva also said that many senators no longer want to push RBH No. 6 because the House leadership is supposedly behind the PI campaign but the Speaker denied this, saying that he welcomed the Senate’s proposed mode of amending the Constitution.
READ: Many senators becoming lukewarm to push Cha-cha – Villanueva
During the discussions, accusations had been made that apparently hurt feelings. Several lawmakers had urged Villanueva to stop being arrogant after he allegedly belittled district and party-list lawmakers as their positions did not require them to have as many votes as senators.
In his privilege speech last February 12, Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong (second district) reiterated that members of the 19th Congress are equal — as the 1987 Constitution does not distinguish between members of the Senate and the House.
“The 1987 Constitution vests legislative power in one Congress, Iisang Kongreso (One Congress), shared between the House of Representatives and the Senate,” Adiong said.
“Our disagreements should be channeled constructively, fostering an environment where the best ideas rise to the top. A divided house weakens our ability to respond effectively to the challenges facing our country, hindering progress and hindering the realization of our shared vision for a better Philippines,” he added.
Adiong was referring to Villanueva’s speech at the Senate plenary, where he said that people “cannot say na equal ang isang party-list representative sa isang senador (we cannot say that a party-list is equal to a senator)”.
House committee on appropriations chairperson and Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co asked Villanueva to refrain from acting ‘sanctimonious’, noting that the senator was linked with the pork barrel scam of convicted mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.
Co said this days after Villanueva asked who House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe was, after Dalipe dared senators to reveal their stand on constitutional amendments to let voters decide in the 2025 elections.
Villanueva, son of televangelist and Cibac party-list Rep. Eduardo Villanueva, gave a short message in reply to the issue, saying that “liars go to hell”.
SMNI
While talk about Cha-cha was ongoing, the committee on legislative franchises was discussing the fate of Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), the media company linked to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC) church, for possible violation of its franchise provisions.
Last February 7, Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel (second district) said that SMNI’s franchise should be revoked, due to the network’s violations and the continuous airing of a regional station despite its suspension back then.
SMNI initially drew flak after Laban Kasama ang Bayan host Jeffrey Celiz wrongly claimed last October that Speaker Romualdez spent P1.8 billion on travel in just a year.
The issue prompted the House committee to start a hearing, during which House Secretary General Reginald Velasco clarified that the entire House only spent P39.60 million for foreign trips from January to October 2023.
READ: Romualdez, House spent P39M on trips in 2023, not P1.8B – Sec Gen Velasco
The developments eventually prompted the National Telecommunications Commission to suspend SMNI’s operations.
READ: NTC suspends SMNI operations for 30 days
Last March 20, the House approved on third reading House Bill (HB) No. 9710 which seeks to revoke SMNI’s franchise, with 284 lawmakers voting in the affirmative, four in the negative, and another four abstaining.
READ: House approves bill revoking SMNI franchise
Divorce bill
Since the start of the 19th Congress, the majority of bills passed by the House on third reading had near-unanimous votes — with lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc usually opposing or expressing reservations on proposed measures.
But last May 22, the House was almost split into two due to HB No. 9349 or the proposed Absolute Divorce Act, with 131 lawmakers voting in favor of the bill, 109 going against i it and 20 abstaining..
Apart from the fact that HB No. 9349 is already the most contentious measure to be discussed in the House during the 19th Congress, controversies surrounded the proposal to reinstate divorce in the country.
For one, the original vote tally read at the plenary was 126-109-20 (affirmative-negative-abstentions). Such a vote tally, former Senate president Vicente Sotto III believes, should have not led to an approval of HB No. 9349.
READ: House approves divorce bill on final reading
Sotto explained that the 126 lawmakers who voted in favor of the proposal were fewer than half of the quorum or the members who participated in the proceedings. With the 126-109-20 tally, it means that there are 255 lawmakers who participated in the voting process.
The former Senate official believes that for HB No. 9349 to be approved on third reading, 128 lawmakers — over half of the 255 — should have given the thumbs-up.
“House Bill No. 9349, or the Absolute Divorce Act, was approved with 126 lawmakers voting in the affirmative, 109 in the negative, and 20 abstentions,” Sotto said. “Therefore, the motion is LOST. Parliamentary rules need a majority of the quorum to [be] approved. Tsk tsk.”
When staunch divorce advocate and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman (first district) was asked about Sotto’s view, he said that the rule of the House is simple: if the yes votes are more than the no votes, the bill is approved.
“It seems former Senate president Sotto doesn’t know how to count. What we are counting here is the majority, well, the yes vote won over the no vote. We do not count the abstention because that has no vote, if it were a basketball game, the opponent lost, right?” – Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman
READ: Sotto says divorce bill lacked votes in House; Lagman says abstentions not counted
After it was announced that the vote tally was corrected, Sotto said what the House did was illegal.
“Passed incorrectly! Now they are changing the numbers out of plenary? That’s not legal!” Sotto said. “When a parliamentary body reports a vote in plenary then changes the following morning not in plenary, what do you call that? They messed up! And they have the tenacity to say I was wrong!”
READ: Sotto insists divorce bill was approved incorrectly: That’s not legal
Despite the magnitude of these discussions, the highlight of the House’s year is yet to come. Part two of this yearend report would talk about Congress’ role on the deepening rift in the Uniteam, the campaign tandem of President Marcos and Vice President Duterte.
(Next: Uncharted waters: House tries to extract accountability from Dutertes)
