SURIGAO del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers today said the filing of Resolution of Both Houses No. 7 in the House of Representatives that seeks to amend the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution should finally lay to rest all fears that lawmakers may include political amendments to the 37-year-old Charter.
House leaders led by Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales, House Majority Leader Manuel Jose “Mannix” Dalipe, Deputy Speaker David “Jayjay” Suarez, and Barbers held a press conference to announce the filing of RBH No. 7, the chamber’s similar version of RBH No. 6 being deliberated in the Senate.
The lawmakers said the resolution may be discussed by all members of the House of Representatives constituting itself as a Committee of the Whole in order to exhaustively deliberate on amendments to the economic provisions of the Constitution.
“Napakaimportante na ito ay pag-usapan because amendment ito sa Saligang Batas,” said Barbers, the chair of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs and one of the lawmakers who co-authored RBH 7 and joined the press briefing.
“It would be proper that the Committee of the Whole, lahat ng miyembro ng Kongreso, ay mapag-usapan ito at i-elevate ang level of discourse, discussion and debate dun sa usapin na sa aming paniniwala ay maaaring makatulong sa ating ekonomiya: (ang) pag-amyenda ng economic provisions para patunay na wala pong nag-iisip na magkaroon ng political provision amendment sa ating Saligang Batas,” he stressed.
“That is the reason why a Committee of the Whole is necessary, para mawala po ang agam-agam at pangamba ng ibang mga kasamahan natin at lalong lalo na ang mga kaibigan natin sa Senado tungkol dito.”
RBH No. 7 is authored by Barbers, Gonzales, Dalipe, Suarez, Deputy Speakers Kristine Singson-Meehan and Antonio “Tonypet” Albano, Senior Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander Marcos, Reps. Yedda K. Romualdez, Jude Acidre, Zaldy Co, LRay Villafuerte, Eleandro Jesus Madrona, Johnny Pimentel, Jesus Jurdin Romualdo, Wilfrido Mark Enverge, Jose Aquino ll, Brian Raymund Yamsuan, Angelina Natasha Co, and others.
Villafuerte, who also attended the press briefing, said when RBH No. 7 is discussed in the Committee of the Whole, he wants to ask the question that nobody seems to be asking in the Senate to all those who are opposing Charter reform initiatives.
“We want to ask questions to the resource speakers questions that are not being asked in the Senate. Una kong tatanungin (are) those opposing Charter Change, I want to ask them why they oppose it because most of them say it’s not the right time to do it now,” Villafuerte said.
“I will ask them, when is the right time? And why? These are not being asked in the Senate hearings. I want to ask them personally,” he added.
Amidst concerns that by discussing RBH No. 7 in the Committee of the Whole, the House of Representatives will be effectively “fast-tracking” its approval, Villafuerte said this will not be the case.
“The word ‘fast-track’ is not proper. I think ‘exhaustive’ is the keyword here. The reason why we’re doing this whether we go as a Committee of the Whole is to exhaustively discuss this issue. Para mas malaman ng taumbayan ano ba ang dini-discuss,” he said.
For Albano, the House will use the knowledge gained by the House during the past several years when it comes to amending the Constitution as almost every Congress there are moves to amend the Charter.
“Hindi namin fina-fast-track o nire-railroad ito ha. This amendment of the Constitution has been discussed by previous Congresses and we will get the knowledge from those caravans, those exhaustive studies, the many types of many roadshows that we’ve already done in the past,” said Albano.
“The only difference, moving forward, is we have to do this formally. And if we do it in a Constituent Assembly, with the Committee of the Whole on the part of the lower House, this will be an exhaustive hearing,” he added.
He said the House will invite all experts, especially on the economic front, to participate as resource persons in the exhaustive hearings on the amendments to the restrictive provisions of the Constitution, including economic managers and business chambers.
“Pati yung mga umaangal at tumututol dito sa provisions, we want to hear from them so that we can learn what provisions of the law we can improve for this Constitution. Again … this is not a fast-track method, this will be debated in plenary exhaustively like any other bills, especially … the Constitution,” Albano said.
“We need this badly,” he said.
