{"id":147584,"date":"2018-01-19T22:02:15","date_gmt":"2018-01-20T03:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=147584"},"modified":"2018-01-19T22:02:15","modified_gmt":"2018-01-20T03:02:15","slug":"senate-wont-be-pressured-by-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/01\/19\/senate-wont-be-pressured-by-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate won\u2019t be pressured by House"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Senator<\/a>
FILE: Senator Bam Aquino (Photo<\/a>: Senate of the Philippines\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— The Senate will not be pressured by the House of Representatives despite the threat of House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez that it will push through as a constituent assembly (con-ass) to amend the 1987 Constitution even without the participation of the upper chamber, a senator said Friday.<\/p>\n

Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said the Senate, as an independent institution, will not be pressured noting that Charter change should go through \u201cthe right process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSenate believes that this is a critical reform that must go through the right process,” Aquino said in a press statement noting that the Senate will not give in to the House\u2019s timetable.<\/p>\n

Aquino said the Senate will assure that there will be a massive information dissemination to educate the public about Charter change.<\/p>\n

The Senate, he said, will also make it a point to allow the public to participate in discussions, debates and crafting of the necessary amendments to the 1987 Constitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is our duty to assure that all processes that we need to go through will be for the people\u2019s interest and not just for political interest,\u201d Aquino said.<\/p>\n

He earlier stressed the need for trust-building measures, including the passage of an anti-dynasty law, before amending the Charter.<\/p>\n

It may be recalled that the House approved Resolution No. 9, which seeks to convene Congress into a con-ass that will introduce changes in the charter by voting jointly.<\/p>\n

The Senate, however, has taken a collective stance to vote separately.
\nNot a magic pill<\/strong><\/p>\n

Senator Grace Poe, for her part, reminded the House that their efforts to rush the shift to federalism should not be seen as a cure-all for the country\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore we amend our Constitution, we need to determine what it is we want to achieve. Federalism is not a “magic pill” to address all of our country’s problems,\u201d Poe said in a separate statement.<\/p>\n

Poe explained that to strengthen local autonomy, some issues are better addressed through amending the Local Government Code.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need stronger institutions, not strongmen. We should enact the Freedom of Information and Anti-Dynasty bills in order to ensure meaningful participation of people in government, with or without Federalism,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Poe also urged a review of the economic provisions of the Constitution to encourage more investments to achieve economic growth.
\nIt takes two to cha-cha<\/strong><\/p>\n

Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, meanwhile, said that the House should not arrogate itself as having \u201cthe far more important job\u201d of amending the Constitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf two bodies are needed to pass a bill changing the name of a barangay, then how can one house arrogate upon itself the far more important job of changing the basic law of the land?\u201d Recto said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes two to Cha-Cha. Going solo is shadow dancing. Or going up the boxing ring for the 12 full rounds with no opponent and then triumphantly declaring yourself winner by unanimous decision,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Recto explained that the three-fourths voting formula to be exercised by one chamber alone is wrong because the Constitution speaks of a bicameral legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are ways of amending the Charter other than a dubious recourse that violates the Charter itself,\u201d Recto said.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— The Senate will not be pressured by the House of Representatives despite the threat of House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":147199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[42198,9948,3662,11118,12230,14926,3886,3251],"class_list":["post-147584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-constituent-assembly","tag-federalism","tag-grace-poe","tag-house-of-representatives","tag-pantaleon-alvarez","tag-paolo-benigno-aquino-iv","tag-ralph-recto","tag-senate","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}