Senate, House set aside fight to focus on amending Constitution

The Senate and the House of Representatives have come to an agreement of prioritizing the revisions to be made in the Constitution, temporarily setting aside arguments on whether they will vote on the proposals in the charter change separately or jointly.

“We agreed to shift the focus that rather than debate on the mode. We will use our energies on coming up with specific proposals, which can possibly gain support from our respective chambers,” Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Thursday said in an ANC interview.

This came after Pimentel’s late-night meeting on Wednesday with Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, and House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas.

It can be recalled that the set-up of voting of the two Houses has been a top issue in line with the governments shift to federalism.

Meanwhile, Pimentel said there are no agreements made yet as they have just exchanged ideas, adding that a definite date has not been finalized because it would be pointless to do so since they are still working on the revisions.

(DAILY NEWS ROUND UP FOR 1/ 25 /18)