The House plenary. (Speaker’s office)

In a chess move of sorts, the House of Representatives filed on Monday afternoon, Feb. 19 Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No.7, which was a "carbon copy" of the Senate's RBH No.6. 

This means that each chamber of the bicameral Congress now has essentially the same instrument in pursuing amendments to the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution. 

So what now? Between the 300-plus strong House and the 24-member Senate, it's the former that is inclined to pass their Charter change (Cha-cha) measure as soon as possible. 

One way to expedite the passage of RBH No.7--and at the same time allow for an exhaustive discussion--is to constitute the entire House into a Committee of the Whole. But Majority Leader and Zamboanga City Rep. Manuel Jose Dalipe says it's too early to say if the House will go that route.

“Yung Committee of the Whole wala pa po yun ha, kasi we have to deliberate it in plenary (As for the Committee of the Whole, we are not there yet, because we have to deliberate it in pleanry)," he said. 

Dalipe nonetheless admitted, "That is one of the proposals to hasten things because the House of Representatives has been in the position that this economic provisions should be made in this Congress, the 19th Congress." 

Fellow economic Cha-cha proponent Surigao del Sur 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers favored the Committee of the Whole set-up in tackling RBH No.7 

“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," Barbers said. 

(All members of Congress will talk about this, and elevate the level of discourse, discussion and debate on what we believe is a boon to the economy.) 

He also highlighted that since RBH No.6 and 7 are practically the same, the House-filed measure does not contain any proposed political amendments to the Charter.

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“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.” 

(This will erase the worries that our colleagues, especially our friends in the Senate, may have about this.) 

As for the timeline of RBH No.7's passage, nothing has been penciled yet, although the belief is that the House will try to match the Senate's previously announced deadline of March. 

Deputy Speaker Quezon 2nd district Rep. Danilo °Jay-jay" Suarez spoke about the dwindling window of opportunity that the lawmakers have as far as Cha-cha is concerned. 

"Pagpasok natin ng kalahati ng taon SONA (State of the Nation Address) na yun. Ang susunod na tatalakayin na ng House is the budget for 2025 where 99 percent of our attention will actually be focused [to]," Suarez said. 

(Once we hit the halfway mark of the year, it's SONA time. After that comes the budget season for 2025.) 

"We have more or less, three four months na mapag-usapan to sa pinakamabilis, pinaka-exhaustive na paraan kung saan inclusive ito sa lahat ng mga stakeholders na magiging bahagi ng pag-uusap at pagpupulong," he said. 

(We have more or less three, four months to talk about this in the fastest, most exhaustive way that is also inclusive to all the stakeholders who will take part in the meeting.)