Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre (left), Pampanga 3rd district Rep. Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales Jr. (PPAB, MANILA BULLETIN)

Ranking congressmen came out Thursday, Feb. 22 to seemingly lecture Senator Jinggoy Estrada about the voting provision for Charter change (Cha-cha) as laid out in the 1987 Constitution.

The issue started when Estrada aired concerns over the the House of Representatives' Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 7, specifically its provision requiring all members of Congress (the House and the Senate) to vote jointly on proposed amendments to the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

The House's RBH No.7 is supposed to be an exact copy of the Senate's RBH No.6. But in the Senate version, it mentions that voting must be carried out separately between the two chambers.

“Ang voting separately, dinagdag po ‘yun ng Senado kung anong nakasulat sa Saligang Batas. Tayo po [sa House of Representatives] we stand with what's written in the Constitution,” House Deputy Majority Leader Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre said in a press conference Thursday when this was brought up.

(The 'voting separately' was added by the Senate to what was written in the Constitution. We in the House of Representatives, we stand with what's written in the Constitution.)

Estrada expressed support for the so-called economic Cha-cha but disagreed with RBH No.7's requirement for joint voting instead of separate voting. It should be noted that the House has over 300 members, while the Senate only has 24.

Acidre insisted that RBH No.7 simply adhered to the current constitutional provisions.

“I-remind ko lang na ang [RBH No.7] ng House of Representatives eh very faithful po sa wording ng Constitution,” Acidre said.

(I would just like to remind that RBH No.7 of the House of Representatives is very faithful to the wording of the Constitution.)

He cited Section 1, Article XVII (Amendments and Revisions) of the Constitution, which states that “Any amendment to, or revision of, the Constitution may be proposed by: 1) The Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members…”

“Kinopya lang po natin doon, pagpapakita po na ang House ay sumusunod po sa pangkasalukuyang Saligang Batas ng bansa,” Acidre pointed out.

(We just copied it from there, it shows that the House followed the country's current Constitution.)

For his part, House Senior Deputy Speaker Pampanga 3rd district Rep. Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales Jr. told the senators that the Constitution is silent on the manner of voting on any amendment to it.

“Our basic law does not say whether the House of Representatives and the Senate have to vote jointly or separately on Cha-cha,” he said in video message sent to House reporters.

Gonzales explained that while their resolution is almost a word-for-word reproduction of RBH No. 6, they dropped the phrase “each House voting separately".

“Those four words are not in the Constitution. Our colleagues in the Senate cannot and should not insist on that language. I am not a lawyer, but that is unconstitutional, as lawyers would say. We in the House chose to be true to our basic law by quoting exactly what it says, no more, no less,” he said.

As for Estrada and Senate President Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri’s appeal for congressmen to listen to the statement of President Marcos that the Senate should take the lead in economic Charter reform, Gonzales said, “We heeded the President’s appeal the first time he articulated it early last month.”

“The House, led by Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, is following the President’s wish, which he reiterated on Monday. In fact, we took it to heart the first time he conveyed it to leaders of Congress,” he said.

RBH No.6 was filed in the Senate last Jan. 15, while RBH No.7 was filed in the House last Feb. 19.