DESPITE a mounting public demand, Congress may not have the time to override President Benigno Aquino III’s veto of the bill increasing the monthly pension of Social Security System retirees by P2,000, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said Saturday.
Belmonte said the quorum problem at the Lower House persists, thus delaying the passage of significant measures and it seems impossible to muster the needed two-thirds vote, or at least 194 out of 290 congressmen, to overturn the presidential veto.
“It is hard to muster a quorum now. We need two-thirds vote of everybody, not just the people who are present but everybody,” Belmonte said.
Article VI, Section 27 of the 1987 Constitution provides that Congress can pass a bill into law despite the President’s veto if two-thirds of the members of each chamber vote for its approval.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares, principal author of House Bill 5842, has filed a resolution overriding the President’s veto.
“The Makabayan bloc will still push through with the campaign to override the veto of the P2,000 pension hike,” Colmenares said.
“There are several members of the lower chamber, some came from the majority bloc, texting me to say that they will support my proposal to override President’s veto,” he added.
But House Majority Leader and Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali Gonzales II maintained that overriding the President’s veto will not likely happen in the remaining six session days of Congress before it adjourns on Feb. 5.
While Congress wants to provide relief to millions of SSS pensions, Gonzales said time may not permit it for lawmakers to pass a measure for the purpose.
“In my experience as a member of the House, there were no records that Congress overrides President’s veto because it will require two-thirds vote of all the members of both houses of Congress,” Gonzales said.
“It will be hard because of this requirement of the Constitution,” he said.
The President vetoed the bill increasing the SSS pension by P2,000 (HB 5842) for fear that it would bankrupt the SSS, a view disputed by lawmakers.
Belmonte earlier proposed that instead of P2,000, the SSS pension should just be increased by P1,000 as a win-win solution to break the impasse caused by the presidential veto.
Belmonte said he would write the President to consider his proposal as a compromise.
Belmonte said the SSS leadership has told the lawmakers that a P500 increase would be “manageable” since it could only lessen the state-owned pension agency by three to four years.