Dela Rosa: We have accepted Charter change bid won’t make it to Senate floor

Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa Senate PRIB file photo / Bibo Nueva España

MANILA, Philippines — The proposal to relax the economic restrictions in the 1987 Constitution won’t make it to the Senate floor, and Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa has accepted it.

Although he maintained that the hearings held by the upper chamber’s panel on constitutional amendments over the past months were not done in vain, Dela Rosa said they have accepted that the proposal for Charter change (Cha-cha) will not mount enough support to elevate it for discussion in Senate plenary.

“Alam naman talaga natin na hindi makararating sa plenaryo iyan. Kukulangin talaga kami ng suporta diyan,” dela Rosa said in an online media briefing on Thursday.

(We know this won’t reach the plenary. We’re really lacking support.)

Dela Rosa said it is likely that only he and the other members of the PDP-Laban faction led by former President Rodrigo Duterte – Senators Francis Tolentino, Robin Padilla, and Christopher Go – will sign the committee report.

Asked if this means he and other pro-constitutional reform senators have accepted the seemingly dim fate of the move for Cha-cha in the upper chamber, dela Rosa said: “Oo, tanggap. Tanggap namin iyan. Dahil nga nakuha na namin iyong mga sentimyento ng aming mga colleague, tanggap na namin iyan.”

(Yes, we accept. We’ve accepted it because we’ve already gotten the sentiment of our colleagues. We accept it.)

He reiterated, however, that the efforts of Padilla as head of the constitutional amendments panel were not a “waste of time.”

“Kawawa naman iyong kasamahan ko kung sabihin nating waste of time dahil pinaghirapan niya iyan. Talagang emotionally attached siya diyan sa Cha-cha na iyan kaya hindi natin masabing waste of time. At least, may binunga. Kahit hanggang saang level makarating, at least may resulta,” the senator said.

(It would be pitiful for my colleague if we call it a waste of time because he worked hard for it. He’s really emotionally attached to that Cha-cha bid, so we can’t say it’s a waste of time. At least, it yielded results. No matter what level it may reach, at least there were results.)

Padilla, the prime mover in the push for Cha-cha in the Senate, earlier filed Resolution of Both Houses No. 3, seeking to loosen the economic restrictions of the 1987 Constitution through a constitutional assembly, where the chambers of Congress will vote separately.
But the House of Representatives wants a different Cha-cha mode as it later overwhelmingly approved on final reading a bill seeking to establish a constitutional convention to amend or revise the economic provisions of the 36-year-old Charter.

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JPV