{"id":65800,"date":"2015-11-26T00:01:39","date_gmt":"2015-11-26T06:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=65800"},"modified":"2015-11-26T21:29:10","modified_gmt":"2015-11-27T03:29:10","slug":"lawmakers-congress-is-co-equal-branch-not-palaces-rubber-stamp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/11\/26\/lawmakers-congress-is-co-equal-branch-not-palaces-rubber-stamp\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers: Congress is co-equal branch, not Palace\u2019s rubber stamp"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Plenary Hall, House of Representatives Complex, Constitution Hills, Quezon City
(Photo by Malaca\u00f1ang Photo Bureau\/Robert Vi\u00f1as)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA \u2013 The House Independent Bloc urged lawmakers to pass the proposed income tax cuts, asserting that the Congress was not the Malaca\u00f1ang\u2019s \u2018rubber stamp\u2019 and had power to override a presidential veto should the President turn down the measure.<\/p>\n

It can be noted that President Benigno \u201cNoynoy\u201d Aquino III repeatedly opposed the income tax cuts, regarding it as \u2018fiscally irresponsible\u2019 and only a \u2018pogi bill.\u2019<\/p>\n

House Speaker Feliciano \u201cSonny\u201d Belmonte Jr. then disclosed that the bill was stricken off the House of Representatives\u2019 priority agenda. Although lawmakers could still pursue it, the House leadership would rather spend the remaining months of the year \u2018on other things that are doable and desirable.\u2019<\/p>\n

Wanting to pursue the measure, Leyte Representative Martin Romualdez pointed out the gains of reducing tax rates and called on independent lawmakers to pass the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appeal to the House leadership and my colleagues to continue working for the passage of the proposed tax cuts because Congress has the power to override a presidential veto. Tayo po ang tinig ng taumbayan<\/em> (We are the voice of the people),\u201d Romualdez said in a Manila Bulletin report.<\/p>\n

The lawmaker then cited Article VI, Section 27 of the Constitution which stated that the Congress \u2013 the House and the Senate \u2013 can override a presidential veto when two-thirds of all the members of each chamber agree to enact a bill into a law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis move would show that Congress is a co-equal branch and not Malaca\u00f1ang\u2019s rubber stamp\u2026 We can show our concern for our workers if we pass the measure and stand by it until it reaches presidential veto,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

1-BAP party-list Representative Silvestre Bello III backed Romualdez and urged the Congress not to become the Palace\u2019s \u2018extension office, stressing their power to override a veto.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven assuming that the President has already manifested his opposition to this proposal, we can override his veto. If he vetoes it, I challenge him to face the people. We can override him if members of Congress are sincere,\u201d Bello said in the same report.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to show our teeth.\u00a0 We are becoming the rubber stamp of the Office of the President We\u2019re turning out to be Malaca\u00f1ang\u2019s extension office. If Aquino doesn\u2019t like it, we will no longer pass the measure even if we want to?\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA \u2013 The House Independent Bloc urged lawmakers to pass the proposed income tax cuts, asserting that the Congress was …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":56543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[249],"class_list":["post-65800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-rewrite","mauthors-cyra-moraleda","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65800","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=65800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}