Abolishing the Senate by a three-fourths vote?

AS Robert Fulghum said in his “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” “You may never have proof of your importance, but you are more important than you think. There are always those who couldn’t do without you. The rub is that you don’t always know who.” The ready answer in our country is politicians; they know your monetary value, and they know when they need the excuse of the people’s voice as a cover-up for what they are planning.

The legislative power per Article VI of the 1987 Constitution is vested in the Congress of the Philippines, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives, except to the extent reserved to the people by the provision on initiative and referendum.

Clearly, ours is a bicameral Congress. The term of office of the Senate shall be six years (Section 4) and shall not serve for more than two consecutive terms or a total of 12 years. It should be pointed out that the Senate is a continuing body since 12 members remain in office while 12 seek reelection or end their terms, while members of the House are elected for a term of three years. No member of the House of Representatives shall serve for more than three consecutive terms (Section 7) or a total of nine years.

The difference in tenure of 12 years and nine years apparently does not sit well with some members of the House. Some are saying they should be at par with each other, and this is the crux of the issue. Members of the House are not at par with the Senate. The president and vice president are both elected for a single term of six years. The difference in the tenure of office was not arbitrary. Beginning in 1992, 12 senators were elected every three years, so that unlike in the House of Representatives, the Senate would not at any time be completely dissolved.

The purpose of the continuity of the life of the Senate is to encourage the maintenance of Senate policies as well as guarantee that there would be experienced members who can help and train newcomers in the discharge of their duties. In addition, in case of resignation, death, permanent disability, removal from office, or resignation of the president and vice president, the Senate president shall act as president.

There are currently 315 members in the House of Representatives and 24 members in the Senate. The House members are elected by district of 250,000 voters per district. The members of the Senate are elected at large, meaning nationwide. So, the nature of constituencies defines the differences between each. Clearly, the nature of the Senate is far different from the House.

Going back to Fulghum, we learned from kindergarten. A threefourths vote of Congress is threefourths of the House and the Senate since ours is a bicameral legislature. This means three-fourths of the House is 236, and three-fourths of the Senate is 18. And if we pursue what the House speaker wants, three-fourths jointly is 315+24 = 254. See the difference? And mind you, the 315 includes five seats under the speaker as OIC of certain districts because of resignation, removal from the roll and death. A first post-EDSA!

The proponents of the people’s initiative campaign wanted an amendment on the voting procedure as provided under Article XVII to be settled so that they could convene a constituent assembly as provided for in Resolution of Both Houses 6 (RBH 6) and overpower the Senate with the House members by sheer number. And if the Senate does not move by March 23, 2024 on RBH 6, the people’s initiative will continue since the Comelec merely ruled that it is suspended. The political acrobatics are amazing since the speaker launched his offensive three times: at an economic briefing in December 2023, the end of the session on Dec. 15, 2023, and the resumption of the 19th Congress, 2nd regular session last Jan. 22. 2024.

Clearly, Section 1, Article XVII of the Constitution provided that “any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by: (1) the Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members; or (2) a constitutional convention.”

Section 2 provides for amendments to be made via initiative: “Amendments to this Constitution may likewise be directly proposed by the people through initiative upon a petition of at least twelve per centum of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least three per centum of the registered voters therein. No amendment under this section shall be authorized within five years following the ratification of this Constitution nor oftener than once every five years thereafter.”

Whoever thought of the initiative by way of amendment to the voting is anti-Senate, does not respect the people since they paid people with taxpayers’ money, and has, in fact, violated the very Constitution since they interpreted it erroneously. Now, if the effort was paid by private citizens, oligarchs at that, the more they get more deeply into murky waters.

If the call for Mindanao to separate from the Philippines was an idea verbalized, what is a people’s initiative that interpreted the manner of Congress voting incorrectly and used public funds for it? A total of P15 billion, right? While the Mindanao call is yet subject to a study like a super region? This administration charged it as secession. Who violated the law?

How do you abolish the Senate? If the Senate votes three-fourths for RBH 6, then you get the cut the speaker and his team want, right? The Senate has to be careful in acting for RBH 6. There are reportedly already 11 senators that are leaning toward RBH 6. What is RBH 6? It states that “extensive studies show that particular economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution need to be revisited and recrafted so that the Philippines may become globally competitive and attuned with the changing times.”

What are the numbers? 2.8 percent inflation, P52 increase in electricity, the oil companies implemented a per liter increase in the price of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene by P0.75, P1.50 and P0.80, respectively (effective Feb. 6, 2024). Year-to-date adjustment of gasoline, diesel and kerosene stands at a net increase of P5.15/ liter, P4.40/liter and P0.85/liter, respectively. And forex stands at P55.895 to the US dollar. Would amendments to the Constitution result in lower electricity rates? Increase purchasing parity? Lower fuel prices? Make the peso competitive? The purchasing power of the peso fell by P0.0505 centavos to P0.8674 by the end of 2022 compared to P0.9179 at the end of 2021. This erosion of the purchasing power was the largest since 2018 when it declined by P0.0525 centavos. This means every Filipino shelled out an additional P13.26 to buy goods worth P100 in 2022. Products worth P100 in 2018, the base year used to compute the consumer price index (CPI), cost P113.26 last year.

Parliament is a crucial card, but we need to do it properly without muscling the Senate to agree with the speaker or else. The politics of or else is a thing of the past, but it seems the past is being recreated recklessly without declaring martial law. Future thinking tells us that R&D is a huge factor, and we need to be competitive and innovative.