House ready to face Cha-cha legal challenge

THE House of Representatives on Tuesday said it was ready to face any legal challenge that might arise from amending the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

“I would say there is no other way but to risk it ... Charter change is actually subject to a constitutional challenge,” said 1-Rider Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez in a news conference.

He added that the dilemma for lawmakers was whether to push through with the initiative when they knew it could be challenged.

“Because we are advocating for this change, we have no choice but to move forward,” Gutierrez said.

He added that the right thing to do was to leave it to the Supreme

Court and trust its judgment.

On Monday, the House Committee of the Whole started deliberations on Resolution of Both Houses 7 (RBH 7).

Like its Senate counterpart, RBH 7 seeks to amend the economic provisions of the Charter.

After the submission of an approved committee report, voting would be held at the plenary level.

“With due respect, Your Honors, you can expect a constitutional challenge with the adoption of the Bernas model and interpretation,” former chief justice Reynato Puno said during the deliberations of the committee on Monday.

During the first meeting of the House Committee on RBH 7 on Monday, Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman asked whether the House and the Senate would meet as a constituent assembly once the Senate concurs with the resolution.

“Our view is that we are exercising separately the powers granted by the Constitution, which is we vote by at least three-fourths of all the members separately. And then once we have concurred with the same resolution, then it will now be sent to the Comelec (Commission on Elections) for purposes of scheduling a plebiscite, and there is no more need to meet as a joint assembly,” Gonzales said.

Lagman said the 1987 Constitution provided “only three modes of amending the Constitution: constituent assembly, constitutional convention and people’s initiative.

The 1987 Constitution states that any amendment to or revision of it “may be proposed by: (1) the Congress, upon a three-fourth vote of all its members; or (2) a constitutional convention.”

“With respect to constituent assembly, the representatives and the senators will meet in an assembly because it is a constituent assembly. They cannot be acting separately. And only a constituent assembly of representatives and senators can propose amendments to the Constitution for ratification by the people in a proper plebiscite,” Lagman added.

The Senate started its deliberations on RBH 6 earlier this month.