The leadership change in the Senate may be good for the proposed amendment of the Constitution’s restrictive economic provisions, veteran lawmaker-lawyer Edcel Lagman of Albay said.
“It’s always possible that a change of leadership will also enhance the chances of Charter change,” Lagman responded to a reporter’s query during a recent press conference after the House of Representatives approved the divorce bill.
“But let us wait and see. Let the development unfold in the Senate because the House has already approved the Cha-cha resolution,” he said.
He was referring to Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 7, the House version of the proposed economic constitutional amendments.
The Senate version, RBH No. 6, authored by former Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and senators Loren Legarda and Juan Edgardo Angara, is still pending in the Senate.
Zubiri resigned as Senate president May 20. Senators elected Francis Escudero as their new leader.
On the issue of joint or separate voting on the proposed Charter change, Lagman said, “That issue is not resolved in the Constitution. The Constitution is ambiguous. It is possible that the issue of joint or separate voting will go to the Supreme Court for a final decision.”
He said in a press release May 26 that the House of Representatives and the Senate have different tasks under the Constitution as a legislature and as a constituent assembly, with the power to propose any constitutional amendment.
But in a forum held in San Juan City in March, Lagman expressed the view that the two chambers of Congress have to meet jointly and vote jointly, or as one body on Cha-cha. ||
