Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman (Screenshot from YouTube live)

If pro-divorce solon Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman would have his way, he would pick a unicameral legislature over the current bicameral set-up of Philippine Congress. 

The reason? A unicameral one--which entails a single legislative chamber--would be faster on the job. 

“Gusto ko unicameral, para mabilis ang legislation at para ma- pinpoint ang responsibility, ang responsibility doon sa unicameral. Ngayon, nagpapasa ng responsibility ‘yung House o ‘yung Senado at tumatagal ‘yung legislation,” Lagman told House of Representatives reporters in a recent press briefing. 

(I want unicameral, so that the legislation process is faster and we will be able to pinpoint the responsibility. Now, the House of Representatives and Senate is passing on the blame to each other as to why legislation is slow.) 

Lagman had this to say when asked if he thought work on measures like the proposed Absolute Divorce Law would move faster under a unicameral set-up. 

At present, the 300-member House and the 24-member Senate comprise the bicameral Congress.  

Lagman was the principal author of the proposed Absolute Divorce Law, embodied in House Bill (HB) No.9349, which the House of Representatives recently approved on third and final reading. 

For absolute divorce to become a law, a counterpart measure to HB No.9349 must be passed in the Senate. This requirement goes for practically every proposed law. 

The Bicol congressman acknowledged that converting the present Congress into a one-chamber legislature “will have to entail a constitutional amendment, because that is an institutional change". 

However, the present Charter change (Cha-cha) resolutions pending in Congress, Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 and 7, lodged in the Senate and House, respectively, do not contain any proposed political constitutional amendment. 

The proposals contained in both resolutions are changes to the 1987 Constitution's restrictive economic provisions. 

The House had already approved RBH No.7, while RBH No.6 is still pending in the Senate.