House leader assures Senate, House to vote separately on Charter change

The Senate and House of Representatives will vote separately on the proposed amendments to the economic provisions on the 1987 Constitution, Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez said on Monday, March 1.

Rodriguez made the assurance after senators raised concerns over the voting procedure. The Lower House is expected to resume debates on Resolution of Both Houses No. 2 to tackle the proposed amendments to the economic provisions on the 1987 Constitution this week and vote on it before Congress goes into Holy Week break on March 27.

“Although the Constitution is silent on the voting issue, we are making the commitment that we will vote separately on Cha-cha, with each chamber obtaining the constitutionally required threefourths vote of all its members to endorse any amendment,” Rodriguez said in a statement.

“In fact, separate voting is what is contained in Resolution of Both Houses No. 2 of Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, principal proponent of economic Charter amendments,” the representative from Cagayan de Oro City’s second district said.

He said a pertinent part of the resolution states that “the Senate and the House of Representatives, by a vote of three-fourths of all its members, with each House voting separately, and pursuant to Article XVII of the Constitution, to propose amendments to Articles XII, XIV and XVI of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines…”

The resolution, he said, specifically seeks to empower Congress to change restrictive economic provisions to entice foreign investments and create jobs in the Philippines with the addition of the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law.”

Rodriguez said the Speaker’s resolution will prevail over a minority view in the House that the two chambers should vote jointly on Charter change.

“The majority recognizes the fact that Congress is a bicameral or two-house assembly, and joint voting will negate that and render 24 senators useless against 300 House members,” Rodriguez said.

Even House constitutional amendments committee chair Ako Bicol Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. and former Supreme Court justices held the view that voting is separate, the lawmaker said.

He also said that after the House approves the Velasco resolution with threefourths vote of all its members, it would transmit the same to the Senate for its own consideration.