No House members at Senate con-con hearings until Zubiri, Romualdez meet
MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Monday said that he has asked to meet with House Speaker Martin Romualdez (Leyte) first before the Senate panel can call House members to hearings on the constitutional convention bill approved by the lower chamber.
In a statement, Zubiri said that he instructed Sen. Robin Padilla, who chairs the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, to hold off on inviting members of the House to the Senate panel's discussions on the bill.
This comes after Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro), chairperson of the House constitutional amendments committee, released a statement saying the Senate committee withdrew his invitation to the Monday hearing.
"Traditionally, the Senate does not invite incumbent members of Congress as resource persons, as they are accorded interparliamentary courtesy, being members of a co-equal branch of legislation. We usually invite representatives as guests, not resource persons, particularly on discussions of local bills," Zubiri said.
Inter-parliamentary courtesy refers to the time-honored tradition between both chambers of Congress to refrain from meddling in each other's affairs.
Padilla confirmed this in a press conference with reporters after the hearing, which ended after an hour and with discussions limited to possible political amendments.
"I was told to move it first. Not cancel. (I was told) to move the hearing where I will listen to the congressmen, because there will be an executive session between the House of Representatives and the Senate,” Padilla said in Filipino.
Padilla added that he was "sad" that the hearing with House members did not push through as changing the Charter is the kind of issue that "the public must hear."
Rodriguez said in a statement that he was prepared to attend the Senate hearing on Monday before he received a notice Sunday night on the "cancellation" of the hearing of the Senate panel.
"[I] was already prepared go to the Senate today at 10 a.m. to present to the senators the basis of our [Resolution of Both Houses] 6 and [House Bill] 7352, which were all data-driven, evidence-based and future-proof,” Rodriguez added.
RBH 6 is the House resolution that calls for the convening of a constitutional convention to change the Constitution, and HB 7352 is the accompanying bill that provides details on the implementation of the con-con.
Zubiri still lukewarm on Charter change
Zubiri also said that he would like "to clarify" a statement by Romualdez that implied the Senate leader remained open to changing the 1987 Constitution despite previously saying it was not a priority.
"I told him that I'm open to meeting with leaders of the House of Representatives on this issue, and having a thorough discussion about it," Zubiri said.
Meanwhile, Padilla said that Zubiri said he "has been open even before" to the idea of changing the Charter during an informal caucus. According to the senator, Zubiri is open to changing the Constitution's economic provisions if the Supreme Court rules that current laws on foreign investments are unconstitutional.
The House supermajority overwhelmingly approved House Bill 7352 on final reading on March 14.
While proponents of the hybrid con-con have repeatedly vowed to limit changes to the Constitution to just the economic restrictions on foreign ownership, minority lawmakers critical of the measure have warned against the possible insertion of political amendments by delegates.
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