Is this the end of Senate's Cha-cha move?
Published Apr 1, 2023 04:04 am
The move to amend the restrictive economic provisions of the1987 Constitution appears to have reached a dead end.
But a legislative measure could still be refiled as its fate could be subject to a wind of change.
This was admitted by Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments Chairman Senator Robinhood C. Padilla, who felt sad but unbowed.
He vowed to file a similar resolution in the future.
Senator Ronald ‘’Bato’’ dela Rosa accepted the reality that only he, Padilla and two other political allies in Senators Christopher ‘’Bong’’ Go and Francis ‘’Tol’’ Tolentino - could be counted on to sign in favor of a draft committee report.
The four belong to the Cusi wing of the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban (PDP-Laban).
As drafted by Padilla, the committee report calla for the amendment of the 1987 Charter by the current senators and congressmen through a constituent assembly (con-ass) mode.
The report requires a minimum of nine signatures from the 24-member chamber for it to be submitted to a plenary debate.
The House of Representatives has already approved its own Charter Change (Cha-cha) resolution.
But senators feared that it would not only be the economic provisions that get amended and that the revision of the Constitution would be carried out per chapter.
Dela Rosa said they knew that they could not get the required nine votes based on the sentiments of their colleagues in the 24-member Senate.
Former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile had said the restrictive economic provisions of the Cory Aquino Constitution are ‘’antiquated".
Former Senate Majority Leader Francisco ‘’Kit’’ Tatad had told the Padilla committee that said the 50 members of the Constitutional Commission that framed the 36-year-old Constitution were not elected by the people but were chosen during the Cory Aquino administration..
Only 48 attended the Commission, he added.