‘Common ground’ found on Cha-cha issue, says this House leader

Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre (PPAB)

After weeks of potshots and bickering over the Charter change (Cha-cha) issue, the House of Representatives and the Senate have finally found “common ground”.

This was Deputy Majority Leader Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre’s positive take on the House’s filing of Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No.7 on Monday, Feb, 19.

RBH No.7 is essentially the same as the Senate-filed RBH No.6. Both measures seek to convene the two chambers into a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) for the purpose of lifting the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

“If we really look at it, the House and the Senate have found the middle ground, have found the common ground for future actions on what to amend. We’ve agreed on what the Senate has actually proposed and the House is also doing parallel efforts to go through the process of approving the same version,” Acidre said in a press conference with fellow ranking congressmen.

“To be honest, I’m a little bit more optimistic with the process in the Senate because the Senate version is actually authored by the leadership of the Senate,” he noted.

“It was authored by the Senate President, by the Senate majority leader, by the pro-tempore, and of course the chairperson of the sub-committee. I’m sure that they will do a much better job than us here in Congress in convincing their colleagues,” Acidre said.

RBH No.7 is similar to the Senate’s RBH No.6, which proposes amendments to Articles XII, XIV and XVI, focusing on the national patrimony, economy, education and general provisions of the Charter.

Cha-cha proponents in the House believe that the country’s full economic potential can be unlocked by amending the economic provision of the Charter. — Ellson Quismorio