LEADERS of the House of Representatives and the Senate will meet on Tuesday to discuss strategies on how to go about the Duterte administration’s push for federalism by rewriting the Constitution.
House majority leader Rodolfo Fariñas of Ilocos Norte said lawmakers and senators are expected to reach a consensus on how they will vote on the proposed changes to the Constitution, whether both Chambers will sit jointly or separately to exercise its constituent powers.
“We will vote separately [if that’s what senators want],” Fariñas said, adding that the meeting will be led by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III.
The lawmakers are expected to agree on “clear boundaries” in the process of amending the Constitution—which Fariñas has said would be a gargantuan task that the lawmaking function of Congress might be affected.
“That is the purpose [to resolve the issue of how we should vote],” Fariñas said. “But who knows? It is possible that we will disagree with each other.”
“We will have to discuss it first because if, for instance, the Senate does not have the numbers, we will have to abort it since you need both Houses [to change the Constitution],” he said.
Opposition leader Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman earlier said the Supreme Court must have the final say on how the proposed Cha-Cha will be voted upon by members of Congress, saying the Constitution is silent on how the voting should be done.
Article XVII, Sec. 1 of the Constitution provides that “any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by the Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its Members.”
Should members of Congress vote jointly, a total of 238 votes of all members—293 congressmen and 24 senators—is needed.
On the other hand, if the voting will be done separately, the House will need 220 votes while the Senate will have to get the support of 18 members.
Lagman earlier said he would file a petition before the high court to have it resolved if there will be a need to do so.
But Lagman said he is amenable to the voting that will be done jointly as he believes that two chambers of Congress is one once it is convened into a Constituent Assembly.