PBBM in talks with Senate, House on constitutional reforms

President Marcos said on Tuesday, Feb. 20, he is “quietly” holding consultations with both houses of Congress regarding constitutional amendments.

Speaking with reporters at the celebration of the 16th Ani ng Dangal, the President disclosed that he has been in talks since “months ago” with the lawmakers for “a long time” now about constitutional reform.

But he has not seen any reason yet to tell it to the public, he added.

“What’s more important is to get it done,” Marcos said. “So, what we’re doing, we’re doing it quietly.”

Why he has not told the public yet is also to avoid making “any fuss,” the President added.

Talks about Charter change under the Marcos administration have been around for some time now. On Feb. 8, the President said the proposed constitutional reform would only focus on economic provisions to boost the country’s economy.

“In any event, this administration is going to continue to push hard to attract more foreign investments to significantly help us achieve our ambition of upper middle-class income status by 2025,” he said at the observance of the “Constitution Day 2024.”

In an interview on Tuesday, Marcos said they just wanted to get the amendments “incorporated into the Constitution to improve the chances of investment and upskilling of our people.”

“The Senate is taking the lead and between the two houses, they will come to an agreement then that will be the way we’ll do it,” he said.

‘Common ground’

And after weeks of potshots and bickering over the Charter change, the two houses of Congress appeared to have finally found a “common ground.”

This was Deputy Majority Leader Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre’s positive take on the House’s move to file Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 7 on Feb, 19.

RBH No. 7 is essentially the same as the Senate-filed RBH No. 6. Both measures seek to convene the two chambers into a Constituent Assembly (Con-ass) for the purpose of lifting the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

“If we really look at it, the House and the Senate have found the middle ground, have found the common ground for future actions on what to amend. We’ve agreed on what the Senate has actually proposed and the House is also doing parallel efforts to go through the process of approving the same version,” Acidre said in a press conference with fellow ranking congressmen. “To be honest, I’m a little bit more optimistic… It was authored by the Senate president, by the Senate majority leader, by the pro-tempore, and of course the chairperson of the sub-committee. I’m sure that they will do a much better job than us here in Congress in convincing their colleagues.”

RBH No. 7, like the Senate’s RBH No. 6, proposes amendments to Articles XII, XIV and XVI, focusing on the national patrimony, economy, education, and general provisions of the Charter.

Cha-cha proponents in the House believe the country’s full economic potential can be unlocked by amending the economic provision of the Charter.