House majority leader and Zamboanga City Rep. Manuel Jose Dalipe reminded the Senate of its self-imposed deadline to approve proposed amendments to the “restrictive” economic provisions of the Constitution by next month.
Dalipe made the reminder as a special Senate subcommittee is set to start hearings this week on Resolution of Both Houses No. 6, entitled “A Resolution of Both Houses of Congress proposing amendments to certain provisions of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, particularly on Articles XII, XIV, and XVI”.
RBH6 is authored by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and senators Loren Legarda and Juan Edgardo Angara, who heads the special subcommittee.
Dalipe said Zubiri has promised President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that senators would pass the resolution before Congress goes on its Holy Week recess on March 23.
“We hold them to this commitment, which was even reported in the media. The House is just waiting for the Senate to approve RBH6 so we can quickly adopt it,” he said in a press release from the House of Representatives.
He said the House has already approved on third and final reading 54 of the 57 priority bills agreed upon by the executive and legislative branches in the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), and all the measures identified by the President in his State of the Nation Address in July last year.
“There is much anticipation and anxiety in the House on this RBH6 because the House had been proposing Charter changes, principally on economic provisions, since the 8th Congress or for 35-36 years. So, we expect Charter reform to take place this time, under the 19th Congress,” he said.
At the same time, Dalipe urged senators, principally Angara and Ronald dela Rosa, to walk the talk on their proposed ceasefire in the word war between the two chambers of Congress.
“It was they who started it when they hurled baseless accusations against us on the people’s initiative (PI), to which we just responded. It is they who should end it for the good of the country and our people. We should refocus our attention on the urgent task that we have to do,” he said.
The House reiterated his appeal to the Senate to stop its PI inquiry since the Commission on Elections already decided to stop accepting signature sheets and to return these to PI proponents.
“Parang nakonsensiya pa sila na nagsagawa sila ng hearing sa Davao City habang patuloy na binabaha at nagla-landslide sa maraming lugar sa Mindanao at may mga namamatay, natatabunan o nalulunod pa tayong mga kababayan duon,” he said, adding that not a single witness admitted in the two Senate hearings that money was given in exchange for a signature in support of PI.
Dalipe said he hopes that the Senate would terminate its inquiry and would focus on passing RBH6 as soon as possible. “Their self-imposed deadline is fast approaching.” ||
