Senate on track in crafting new rules for Charter change approval, lawmaker says

Senate is definitely on track in crafting new rules that would allow it to either approve or reject measures to amend the 1987 Constitution.

Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva made the assurance on Tuesday, March 26, referring to the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 that is pending before the Senate sub-committee on Constitutional Amendments, Revision of Codes.

“We’re definitely on the right track, and we’ll be ready before the culmination of the sub-committee hearing,” Villanueva said.

“After our hearing, we asked the (Senate) secretariat to collate and present to the members of the rules committee our draft committee report,” he said.

“Then I’ll sponsor it on the floor and approve it,”  the Majority leader added.

Villanueva heads the Senate Committee on Rules which is currently crafting amendments to the Senate rules in preparation as part of the deliberations on RBH 6.

RBH 6 primarily seeks to amend certain economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution, namely on the areas of education, media, and public services.

Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero had earlier noticed that the Senate has yet to come up with its own set of rules to amend the 1987 Constitution, while the House of Representatives had already done with their own for Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 7.

The House has already approved on third and final reading RBH No. 7.

In response, Sen. Francis Tolentino filed the Resolution No. 941 urging the Senate to provide clear guidelines on how it will act on measures that seek to amend the country’s Charter.

Last week, Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, chairperson of the Senate subcommittee tackling RBH 6 said they are targeting to sponsor the RBH 6 before President Marcos’ third State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July. — Hannah Torregoza