Senate Majority Joel Villanueva (PNA file photo by Avito Dalan)
MANILA – Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva told reporters on Tuesday that "a lot of senators" are not interested in supporting the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 recently filed by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri seeking to start the discussions on amending the three economic provisions of the Constitution.
Villanueva said this was after they discovered that congressmen were allegedly behind the people's initiative (PI) attempts that intend to strip the Senate of its powers to vote separately from the House of Representatives (HRep) whether to agree with the charter change.
"It's obviously the main reason why a lot of senators are not interested anymore in pushing for the joint resolution," he said in a press briefing answering the question about the alleged leadership behind the PI attempts.
Villanueva urged the public on Monday to be vigilant and report to his office the illegalities in these PI attempts.
"After 24 hours, we've gotten thousands of complaints with pictures, etc. pinpointing yung mga tao na lumapit sa kanila, nagpapapirma, meron pang Gcash. Ninety percent po nung mga complaints itinuturo yung mga staff ng kongresista. In fact, may mga pictures pa ng (the people who went to them, asked for their signatures, there was also through Gcash. Ninety percent of the complaints are pointing to staff of congressmen. In fact, there are pictures of) chiefs of staff," he said.
With this, Villanueva urged congressmen involved that they should try to correct what they did by stopping these PI activities.
He also joined the call of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to let the Commission on Elections (Comelec) do its job to invalidate the acquired signatures.
Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said the signatures they received were still being tallied which would eventually be followed by a petition "that will be filed later."
"Meaning to say at this point there is no petition yet. This process has not yet started. What the Comelec is doing is a purely ministerial function," Garcia clarified.
The petition, Garcia pointed out, could be dismissed if it lacks signature certification from the local Comelec offices which is different from signature verification.
Garcia recently announced that around 900 cities and municipalities already submitted signatures for the PI.
Meanwhile, Senator JV Ejercito, in a Viber message to reporters, warned that this tension between the two Houses of Congress "might really lead to a constitutional crisis" considering both "are head on the issue of PI."
"I was hoping that both leaders of both Houses honor the agreement in front of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to avert such a scenario," he said.
Senator Sonny Angara, in a separate message, said it is clear that the PI being pushed by the House of Representatives is not a genuine people’s initiative.
Angara, who was supposed to lead the discussion on the proposal to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution, said Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 recently filed by Zubiri has been actually "sidelined" by this push of the House of Representatives.
"Hopefully just momentarily," he said.
Zubiri, in a press briefing before filing RBH 6, said they were planning to create a subcommittee under Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes Panel that will focus on the measure.
Senator Ramon Revilla Jr., for his part, maintains his support to President Marcos' pronouncements on Charter change, saying the discussions should only focus on the three economic provisions.
"Dapat open tayong i-akma ang Saligang Batas sa mga pangangailangan ng panahon (We should be open to making our Constitution adapt to the changing times), pertaining to its economic provisions. Pero, hindi dapat sa mga (But should not include) critical areas like foreign ownership of land, energy, and media," Revilla said, noting it is what the RBH 6 intends.
"Instead of focusing sa voting as one, dapat yan ang bigyang pansin para hindi mabinbin ang trabaho ng Upper at Lower Houses (that should be the focus so there will be no interruptions on the work of the Upper and Lower Houses)," he added.
Revilla urged fellow lawmakers to be calm and suggested to discuss the issues "as statesmen while fulfilling our duties to the people." (PNA)
