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Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Palace allies to pursue Cha-cha sans Senate
MANILA -- The House of Representatives can amend the Constitution without the Senate if it musters the constitutional requirement of three-fourths vote or 197 signatories of all 261 members of Congress.
Camarines Sur Representative Luis Villafuerte bared this recently, anchoring his arguments on his interpretation of the intent of Article 17, Section 1 of the Constitution, which provides that "any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by Congress upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members."
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He believed that so long as the constitutional requirement of three-fourths vote is met, it is enough to start the process of proposing amendments because the Constitution does not mention the words "House" and "Senate" and merely states "Congress."
"It is not the institutional representation that they make. It is as members of Congress, because in proposing amendments or revisions, the Senate and the House, as an institution, cannot act as members of Congress in that context," Villafuerte, proponent of the resolution calling for Congress to convene into a Constituent Assembly (Con-ass) to propose changes in the Charter, said.
He also admitted that his interpretation would be enough to force the Supreme Court (SC) to finally rule on the issue of whether Congress should vote jointly or separately in proposing amendments.
According to him, the Constitution clearly delineates Congress' legislative ordinary function from its power to amend or revise the Constitution and therefore, there is no need to seek the Senate's concurrence if it does not want to participate.
Villafuerte, however, told Parañaque Representative Roilo Golez, who engaged him in a plenary debate Monday night that "it will require the participation of the Senate, if they are so willing to participate."
"But what if they (senators) do not (agree to Con-ass)?" Golez asked to which Villafuerte replied, "We should not impel the concept of three-fourths of all the members of Congress."
He added that when it comes to amending or revising the Constitution, there is no institutional participation. "It is the participation of congressmen and senators acting as members of Congress for the purpose of exercising not a legislative power as in the bicameral system but in exercising a constituent power for proposes of amending the Constitution."
Villafuerte said the framers of the 1987 Constitution adopted a procedure, which "conforms to a unicameral system but adopted in a bicameral system."
Golez, who is also the spokesman for the House minority, said by forcing his issue, Villafuerte was offering a "very creative interpretation of the Constitution."
"That to me is quite shocking," he said. "Because when we speak of constitutional change by Congress, we are talking of institutional intervention, not individual intervention."
"This is very misleading," Golez said to which Villafuerte replied, "The word whole is equivalent to the word all just to distinguish from voting separately and as a whole."
Cebu Representative Antonio Cuenco, however, said it would be best for the House to sit down with senators to discuss convening a Constitutional Convention (Con-con) because the upper House has declared its openness to it.
"We're banging our heads to the wall," he told the committee on constitutional amendments. "If we have our own way, our own separate way, we'll get nowhere."
The committee, chaired by La Union Representative Victor Ortega, has already decided to suspend deliberations on Speaker Prospero Nograles's House Resolution 737, which seeks to allow foreigners and foreign corporations and associations to own land.
"Next week, we'll vote on what committee thinks and whether to have amendments or not," Ortega said after the panel wrangled on which mode should be adopted in proposing the amendments.
Sorsogon Representative Jose Solis, who subscribes to Villafuerte's interpretation, stressed that the committee should first vote to decide which mode to adopt instead of treating Nograles's resolution as an ordinary piece of legislation that could render Con-ass useless once it reaches the plenary.
During the deliberations, Representatives Pablo Garcia of Cebu and Mauricio Domogan of Baguio supported Villafuerte's "school of thought," prompting Bayan Muna party-list Representative Teodoro Casiño to say the interpretation is "very dictatorial on the part of the House." (WV/JLCP/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (December 10, 2008 issue)
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