HOUSE Deputy Majority Leader and Tingog Partylist Rep. Jude Acidre on Thursday echoed the statements of his colleagues that the Senate is fast running out of time in acting on proposed amendments to the Constitution’s restrictive economic provisions.
He told a news conference that Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez wants to give the Senate enough time to tackle the amendment proposals.
“However, we have to understand there is a limited time frame to do this. As many of us actually know, the elections are coming, and we already cited that the most favorable time is for this to be passed before the Congress adjourns sine die (on May 25),” he said.
“So those are the things that we’re looking at, the deadlines. Hindi naman namin pwedeng tawagin we imposed on the Senate, but this is a reasonable time frame for them. If the Senate means has what they said, then they will have to pass it before the sine die (adjournment),” he said.
He said if the Senate approves the proposed amendments by the time Congress goes on its the long recess in May up to July, these could be submitted to the people in a plebiscite before the May 2025 elections.
Based on Acidre’s timeline, senators have only 12 session days to approve their version of the amendment proposals, which are contained in Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6, from the time lawmaker return to work on April 29 after their five-week Holy Week break.
Congress will be in session up to May 24 before the sine die adjournment.
Acidre said the Charter change timelines “are self-apparent.”
“Alam naman natin magkaka election tayo in 2025, whether we want the plebiscite to happen together with 2025 elections or whether we want to do it ahead of the 2025 elections. Still, that’s a deadline that… we expect the Senate to know, di ba?” he said.
“And if they mean what they said that they will pass this, they know that that is the ultimate deadline and if you work back the calendar coming from the election, siguro they should pass it before the sine die (adjournment),” he said.
He was alluding to the timeframe the Constitution gives the Commission on Elections to conduct a plebiscite, which is not earlier than 60 days nor later than 90 days from receipt of the resolution of Congress containing the proposed amendments.
“Those are not arbitrary deadlines that the House got from thin air and say… no, you have to pass it by then. We know these deadlines are self-apparent. They are there. We will have elections in 2025, we will file our certificates of candidacy in October this year,” Acidre said.
“So, siguro kung tama nga ang sinasabi nila at gusto nilang i-pursue kung totoo sila sa commitment nila, they will take those days into consideration,” he said.
He said as far as the House of Representatives is concerned, “we’ve already fulfilled our mandate.”
“We have passed the bills and the RBH. We have passed the resolution and we have already forwarded it to the Senate. Now, we’re looking at our friends in the upper house of what they will do because as they insist, Congress is a bicameral body and the actions of the House has to be reciprocated by the Senate and we have full trust considering na ang RBH 6 is authored by the Senate President, by the Senate Pro Tempore, by the Majority leader and the chairman of the sub-committee,” he said.
