JULY CHA-CHA PLEBISCITE EYED
A RANkING member of the Ho”se of Representatives confirmed on Thursday a plan for the plebiscite for the People’s Initiative to be held by July.
Albay 2nd District Rep. Jose Maria Clemente “Joey” Salceda, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, said the proponents of the people’s initiative are pushing for the plebiscite that could ratify the proposal allowing the Senate and the House of Representatives to vote jointly instead of separately on constitutional amendments.
“As far as it was explained to me by the proponents, they want to hit it by July ... I confirm that timeline,” Salceda told reporters.
The Kabataan party-list revealed last week its plan to hold the plebiscite before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. makes his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July.
Deputy Majority Leader for communications Erwin Tulfo (ACT-CIS party-list) denied there was a timeline for the plebiscite.
Salceda said the July timeline is not meant to be a “gift” for President Marcos during the SONA.
“That is not the point. The point is it should be reasonably actionable, that there is enough time before the 2025 elections. The rival of that timeline is that by October, we will be filing [certificates of candidacy for 2025] already and there is no talk of them going in parallel,”
Salceda said.
He said 60 districts have reached the minimum threshold for si“nat”res of three percent as required by the Constitution, while 20 districts are having a hard time convincing voters to sign the petitions.
He did not name the districts that have not reached the three percent threshold, but said that some towns in his province, Albay, already surpassed the
three-percent signature threshold and that the signed petitions were being filed at the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Salceda said the Senate’s Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 6 is not enough to fully unlock the country’s potential for foreign investment, noting that there had been no investments in agriculture.
“Agriculture is one particular area where the scope of growth will be huge, so we can easily grow agriculture by six percent per annum once we put foreign capital and foreign technology there,” he said.
Aside from agriculture, other industries such as advertising and mass media would also benefit if the Senate considers amending not just what was specified in their own resolution, but also on the House-led RBH 2.
“We welcome the RBH 6 filed in the Senate, as there is a substantial attempt to amend the constitution, but the House will insist on RBH 2 .... If we sit together, even if they insist on voting separately, we can amend that particular resolution in a constituent assembly,” Salceda said.