The leadership of the House of Representatives will take its cue from the Senate, which will now take the lead on the proposal to amend the restrictive economic provisions of the 37-year-old Constitution, a press release from the House of Representatives said.
This revelation was made during the resumption of the daily press briefings at the House of Representatives by members of the so-called “Young Guns” in the chamber, who were asked to react to the new resolution filed by Sen. Robin Padilla calling for amendments to the Charter via the constitutional convention route.
“I think our Speaker who gave us clearly his leadership direction … is that we will let the Senate take the lead … He made it very clear to all of us and to the nation that as far as the House is concerned, we are specifically only interested in (amending) the economic provisions,” said Lanao del Norte Rep. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo.
“As far as the Con-Con is concerned and what contents there are, I think there has been also a counterpart that has been filed here in the House. So we can more or less give it to the Senate on a silver platter,” he added.
For PBA Partylist Rep. Margarita “Atty. Migs” Nograles, the Senate is well within its right if it decides to tackle the Resolution of both Houses No. 8 filed by Sen. Padilla.
Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong agreed with both Dimaporo and Nograles that the House, under the leadership of Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, has already delivered its commitment to the President and the Filipino people to approve amendments to economic provisions of the Constitution to open our country to foreign investments.
Meanwhile, Adiong said, the House will be busy deliberating on pending pieces of legislation and exercising its oversight functions while waiting for a more definitive Senate action on proposals for constitutional economic reforms.
For 1-RIDER Partylist Rep. Rodge Gutierrez, whatever the Senate decides on regarding the mode by which to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution, the House will follow the lead of the Senate.
Davao Oriental Rep. Cheeno Miguel Almario said the House leadership has already expressed its intention to introduce economic reforms to the Constitution, and that he hopes the Senate and the House cooperate on these amendments.*
