Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte has suggested to Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri to go ahead on this week’s planned formal meeting of Sen. Robinhood Padilla, chairman of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes, with House proponents of Charter change via a constitutional convention (Con-Con), adding that such a meeting should be held in public instead of behind closed doors in the interest of full transparency.
“We are suggesting to Senate President Migz (Zubiri) to allow Sen. Robin (Padilla) and Con-Con proponents in the House led by Rep. Rufus (Rodriguez) to meet, as originally planned, in a public hearing this week in the interest of full transparency,” said Villafuerte, who is one of the lead authors of House Bill (HB) 7352, which is meant to be the implementing law for Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 on the establishment of a Con-Con to work on amending the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Charter.
The Camarines Sur legislator pointed out that there wouldn’t be any breach of interparliamentary courtesy if Rodriguez and other House members would be made to attend a public hearing, as these solons from the bigger chamber would be attending of their own volition.
“The last thing we need is to hold such a meeting behind closed doors, which is the apparent preference of the Senate President, as such a secretive engagement would not afford our people a golden opportunity to hear from our senators and House members the pros and cons of constitutional reform, and which between the Con-Con and Con-Ass (Constituent Assembly) is the better route to tweaking our 36-year-old Charter,” he said.
“Moreover, holding a closed-door session would only fuel further a misplaced public suspicion that lawmakers advocating constitutional reform to rid the Constitution of its economic provisions that have long impeded the inrush of FDI (foreign direct investment) flows have a hidden political agenda behind this revived initiative for a Charter makeover,” he added.
Hence, he said, “it is better for this meeting to take place now, and for it to be held in public, rather than in an executive session, to allow a free flow of ideas among our lawmakers that would eventually enable our people to make an informed choice on constitutional reform.”
Villafuerte issued this statement in response to a report quoting Zubiri as saying that the planned meeting between senators and congresspersons should be held in an executive session, in lieu of a public hearing, as calling House members to such an open session would supposedly breach interparliamentary courtesy.
The Camarines Sur legislator pointed out that there wouldn’t be any breach of interparliamentary courtesy if Rodriguez and other House members would be made to attend a public hearing, as these solons from the bigger chamber would be attending of their own volition.
There would only be a violation of interparliamentary courtesy if a Senate committee would compel any House member to attend its public hearing, said Villafuerte, who recalled that he himself had attended a Senate hearing presided over by then-Sen. Panfilo Lacson.
Padilla is close to wrapping up his committee’s hearings on Charter Change, and he bared plans last week to invite House proponents led by Rodriguez to a panel meeting this Monday (March 20).
But the scheduled meeting did not push through as Zubiri reportedly preferred that it be held in an executive session, ostensibly as a parliamentary courtesy.
Villafuerte is president of the National Unity Party (NUP), the second biggest power bloc in the House and whose 45 members all voted last week for RHB 6 and HB 7352, in support of the strong support for constitutional reform by the House leadership under Speaker Martin Romualdez.
“Moreover, holding a closed-door session would only fuel further a misplaced public suspicion that lawmakers advocating constitutional reform to rid the Constitution of its economic provisions that have long impeded the inrush of FDI (foreign direct investment) flows have a hidden political agenda behind this revived initiative for a Charter makeover.”
He appealed to senators last week to give Charter Change a chance, if only out of consideration: (1) for its overwhelming support in the House where 301 or almost 96% of its 314 members had voted on third and final reading for RHB 6 and HB 7352, and (2) the fact that 13 of the current 24 senators had at one time or another been members of the House themselves.
Padilla said that although he favored the Con-Con mode, he might have to support the Con-Ass to gain the support of more senators who prefer this option in lieu of the costly election of delegates to introduce amendments to the Constitution.
For Villafuerte, it is beside the point now on whether senators are to vote for a measure proposing Con-Ass or Con-Con, because “what is truly important is to keep the ball rolling on constitutional reforms in hopes for the 19th Congress to pass a measure on Charter Change at the soonest time possible.”
“We are hoping that our senators will make a decision while there is still enough time to introduce amendments to the Constitution. We will respect whatever action our senators will take. If it turns out that constitutional reform has no majority support, then let’s leave it at that,” he said.
However, Villafuerte noted that the Philippines, despite its pre- and post-pandemic status as one of the region’s best performing economies, will never enjoy the high level of FDI streaming to many of our neighboring countries, “for so long as we remain stuck with the anachronistic provisions of our Charter on limited foreign ownership or participation in Philippines businesses that have turned off investors.”
