At least three senators on Tuesday slammed the move of the House of Representatives to amend the Constitution without the Senate.
“For their own sake, they should not allow themselves to look pathetic and worse, ridiculous,” Senator Panfilo Lacson said.
House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has said that the lower chamber does not need to wait for Senate to convene as Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) for Charter change (Cha-cha) as the Constitution does not require it.
In a press conference on Monday, Alvarez said the House was already in the process of amending the Constitution without the senators, stressing that the Constitution only need ¾ of Congress to vote on proposed revisions.
However, senator and legal experts stressed that the House should wait for Senate approval to formally initiate proposing amendments to the Constitution.
Senators are demanding on separate voting for the Congress to reflect the bicameral structure of the legislature.
Lacson, who filed a resolution that will require the Senate to convene as a con-ass separate from the House, pointed out that the Constitution spells out that much, with Article VI, Section 1 clearly stating that Congress of the Philippines is consist of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
“Interpreting ‘the Congress’ under Art XVII to refer to one chamber only is at best, self-serving. They pride themselves as lawyers in good standing but it only takes a layman who knows how to read and understand simple words and literature in order to appreciate what is right and wrong,” he said in a statement.
Lacson added that the lower chamber can propose amendments as they wish, however a plebiscite to be headed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), would need to be included in the budget.
“Without the Senate, how can such appropriation materialize?” the senator said.
House minority leader Franklin Drilon, for his part, also questioned Alvarez’s reading of the Charter.
“The House of Representatives alone cannot constitute themselves as a constituent assembly and by its own three-fourths vote, cannot amend the Constitution. They cannot do it without the other house which is the Senate,” Drilon said.
Alvarez explains Article XVII, which deals with amendments to the Charter, as the Senate and House voting together.
Senator Francis Pangilinan likewise slammed the move, saying Alvarez’s statement show a strategy to “force the issue and have the Supreme Court step in and decide in their favor.”
“The administration has bullied the political opposition, its critics, the chief justice, the media, selected business interests, and now it wants to bully the Senate,” Pangilinan said in a statement.
“The bullying of the House is an abuse of those in power. We should not let it pass. If the Senate allows itself to be bullied, then our democracy and respect for the law will be thrown out the window and anyone can be a victim of the abuses of those in power,” he added.
During the press conference, Alvarez said that once the lower chamber completes a draft and it acquired a vote equivalent to ¾ of the combined number of 292 congressmen and 24 senators, the draft proposals can be submitted to the electorate for ratification in a plebiscite.