House: Senate can still act on economic Cha-cha

MANILA, Philippines — Contrary to senators’ claims, the Senate still has time to scrutinize the proposed amendments to economic provisions of the Constitution, especially when Congress resumes session on July 26.

This was according to Quezon City Rep. Precious Hipolito-Castelo, who explained that the proposed economic revisions in the 1987 Constitution – contained in Speaker Lord Allan Velasco’s Resolution of Both Houses 2 – remain “very much alive and can still succeed within this year.”

“So the Senate cannot really consider it before we go on our annual mandatory break. We will transmit it to them during the recess and they will have time to scrutinize it and act on it during our third and last regular session, which starts on July 26,” she said.

RBH 2 is expected to be passed on third and final reading this week before the June 4 break.

The measure, which has not been certified as urgent by Malacañang, has the support of the super majority coalition in the House. It aims to relax what its authors claimed were restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution by empowering Congress to change such restrictions whenever necessary.

Castelo said the House would be busy with the proposed national budget for 2022 during the first few months of the last regular session. “While we are considering the budget, we hope the Senate could find time to tackle RBH 2,” she said.

She said several senators have expressed support for the House initiative to relax economic restrictions “so the country could attract more foreign investments to enable it to recover faster from the crippling pandemic.”

She noted that even Senate President Vicente Sotto III stated in January that the Senate was open to considering Cha-cha provided it was limited to economic provisions and would not involve political amendments.

“As we have assured senators, the Cha-cha push is confined to the restrictive economic provisions. There has been no proposal for a political amendment and the House will kill it if there is any,” Castelo said.

Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte, who is opposed to Velasco’s leadership, predicted RBH 2’s doom following the refusal of senators to toe the House line.

“Resolution of Both Houses 2 is practically dead in the water. Passing RBH 2 is an exercise in futility as it appears dead in the water in the Senate,” he said.

The House leadership is bent on approving this week the measure on third and final reading before Congress goes on recess on June 4. Sessions resume on July 26 when Duterte delivers his sixth and last State of the Nation Address.

“Going through the motion of passing RBH 2 on third, final reading will just be an exercise in futility, especially when the House leadership could better spend the precious hours on more urgent measures such as on COVID-19 response and economic recovery,” he added.

Sotto earlier hinted at bypassing Velasco’s measure, citing lack of material time as well as the need to focus on other priority measures. – Ding Cervantes