Senate to consult House on legislative agenda

CONGRESS BEGINS its Third Regular Session on Monday, with the Senate set to coordinate its priority bills with the House of Representatives, Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III said on Sunday.

House leaders for their part said they expect to tackle the draft federal charter to be transmitted to the chamber on Monday, as well as the 2019 national budget and the draft Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) that President Rodrigo R. Duterte is expected to sign before his State of the Nation Address (SONA).

The House Committee on Constitutional Amendments said the next step for charter change will be planned around Mr. Duterte’s SONA. “Let us hear the SONA first,” committee chair Roger G. Mercado said in a text message Saturday.

Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn F. Garcia said last week the House leadership will have to revisit its timetable to accommodate hearings on the General Appropriations Act of 2019 and on the planned shift toward federalism.

The Senate and the House have been at odds over charter change, with the senators rejecting a proposal by House Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez to postpone the 2019 midterm elections to allow time for charter change. Earlier this year, the two chambers disagreed as well on whether to vote jointly or separately in proposing amendments to the Constitution as a constituent assembly.

Mr. Sotto, when sought for comment, said in a text message, “We have yet to finalize the priority list after we meet and after we meet House counterparts.”

Also sought for comment, University of the Philippines ( UP) law professor Antonio G.M. La Viña said in a text message: “This should be a concern for the administration. There is no appetite in the senate for Charter change and there is no popular pressure on them to convert into a constituent assembly.”

“The two Houses of Congress, to paraphrase Rudyard Kipling, are East and West and ‘never the twain shall meet.’ I suspect that one will have to give in or will be deceived or forced to give in,” he added.

Mr. Sotto said his colleagues will discuss this week the proposed Federal Constitution, which was formally submitted by the Consultative Committee (ConCom) to the Senate on July 12.

The Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes, headed by Senator Francis N. Pangilinan, will also hold a meeting on Wednesday, July 25, to tackle updates on its public hearings. The committee will then tackle the matter of whether to proceed or not with charter change, and also whether to recommend a constitutional convention or a constituent assembly.