{"id":172621,"date":"2018-07-23T06:24:28","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T10:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=172621"},"modified":"2018-07-23T22:11:36","modified_gmt":"2018-07-24T02:11:36","slug":"sotto-hits-talks-charter-change-sans-senate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/07\/23\/sotto-hits-talks-charter-change-sans-senate\/","title":{"rendered":"Sotto hits talks of Charter change sans Senate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
\u201cThe use of the word \u2018shall\u2019 as any student of law learns early in his studies means that it is compulsory,\u201d the Senate leader said. (File photo by Joseph Vidal via Senate of the Philippines\/Facebook)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA — Breaking the tradition, Senate President Vicente \u201cTito\u201d Sotto III on Monday opened the Third Regular Session of the 17th Congress not with the usual chamber\u2019s achievements in the past regular session but with a strongly worded message on the Senate\u2019s importance amid proposals of approving a federal charter even without the participation of the Senate.<\/p>\n

In his speech, Sotto stressed that as set forth in the 1987 Constitution, \u201cthe legislative power shall be vested in the Congress of the Philippines which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe use of the word \u2018shall\u2019 as any student of law learns early in his studies means that it is compulsory,\u201d the Senate leader said.<\/p>\n

As such, he said the Senate is essential in \u201cany and all matters\u201d pertaining to legislation, even in mere changing the names of schools and roads.
\nHe also pointed out that while the Constitution provides that Senate is composed of only 24 senators, and the House of Representatives of not more than 250 members, claiming that the procedure of the legislative department is a purely numbers game \u201cis to miss the point big-time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSa maliliit na bagay kailangan kami. Pero sa pag-iiba ng Konstitusyon ng Pilipinas hindi kailangan ang Senado (We are needed in small things, but we are not needed in changing the Philippine Constitution)?\u201d Sotto remarked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf our consent is needed in small things, more so in bigger things,\u201d Sotto added.<\/p>\n

He said it is not his intention to preside over an unnecessary body of the Legislative Department of the Philippine Republic.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo say or even insinuate that we are unnecessary and irrelevant is unacceptable. I don\u2019t wish to preside during my watch over the necrological services of the Philippine Senate. Especially so today, when we are confronted with a number of momentous choices affecting our nation,\u201d Sotto said.<\/p>\n

He was referring to the ideas of shifting from a presidential to parliamentary form of government; a unitary Republic or a federal system; and transforming the regions or other groupings into federal states.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Senate is the forum, the ring, within which these ideas will struggle for supremacy. It is the stage where these ideas are proposed and debated. And finally, it is the rostrum from which far-reaching decisions are promulgated,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Sotto said the Senate has an \u201cintegrity to defend and an honor to die for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe memories of the giants who sat in this august hall will forever hound us if we drop the ball at this crucial hour,\u201d Sotto said.<\/p>\n

He then urged his colleagues to \u201clisten with our hearts and minds\u201d when President Rordrigo Duterte delivers his third State of the Nation Address later in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd afterwards, we shall do what is best for our country, in our mandated role as the Senate of the People of the Philippines,\u201d Sotto said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA — Breaking the tradition, Senate President Vicente \u201cTito\u201d Sotto III on Monday opened the Third Regular Session of the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":129761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[15884,53833],"class_list":["post-172621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-philippine-constitution","tag-senate-president-vicente-tito-sotto-iii","mauthors-jose-cielito-reganit","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172621","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=172621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}