Senator Robinhood Padilla said on Saturday, Feb. 18 that he would rather resign as a senator if asked by the Senate leadership to set aside his resolution seeking amendments to the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
Padilla, however, stressed that the Senate leadership had said that he should continue conducting public hearings on his resolution based on the rules of the Senate.
Whether or not a majority of the members of his Senate Constitutional Amendments Committee would sign a committee report for eventual sponsorship is another matter.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri earlier said that Senate and the House of Representatives, during a recent Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting at Malacanang, agreed to focus their attention on 10 priority bills and that Padilla’s Charter Change (Cha-cha) resolution was not discussed.
‘’Kapag sinabi po nating isantabi, magresign na lang po tayo kasi wala na tayong silbi dyan sa Senado
(If i am told that my resolution should be set aside, I will resign because I would be rendered inutile in the Senate),’’ Padilla said
‘’Kapag meron tayo panukala at yang panukala ay di narinig sa apat na sulok ng demokrasya ng Senado, magresign na tayo kasi anong gagawin natin dyan magpalaki ng bayag. Ganun na lang (If I have a proposal and it's not heard in the four corners of the democratic Senate, I will resign because I would be rendered inutile at the Senate and have nothing to do except let my balls grow bigger. That's it),’’ he added.
Padilla emphasized that the people voted for him because of his advocacy for changes in the Constitution. He stressed that amending the Constitution is a job of Congress.
‘’Di po pwede. Tayo po ay andyan, tayo po ay nangampanya, tayo po ay pinaniwalaan ng taumbayan na ang ating adbokasiya ay patungkol po sa Konstitusyon at yan po ang ating isinusulong na economic reform at katulad din po ng pagpapalit ng porma ng gobyerno (That’s not allowed. I'm there, I campaigned, the people believed in my advocacy about the Constitution and that's my pursuit of economic reform and changing the form of government)," he said.
Told during a DWIZ radio interview that his committee would no longer be made to submit a committee report and that it would just be a waste of time, Padilla thinks Zubiri was just misquoted.
He said the rules of the Senate are clear that a committee report should be sponsored on the Senate floor.