Robin pushes joint Congress hearings on Cha-cha

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate committee on constitutional amendments needs to directly consult Charter change proponents in the House of Representatives to help it come up with a report on proposals to amend the Constitution, Sen. Robinhood Padilla said yesterday, insisting on a joint hearing of Congress.

Padilla, who chairs the committee, said he was not yet ready to adjourn hearings on various Charter change measures, including Resolution of Both Houses No. 6, passed by the lower chamber last March 7 that calls for a constitutional convention or con-con to amend the economic and political provisions.

The senator earlier scheduled a closed-door hearing with House counterparts – led by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez – but was requested not to do so by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, who warned the discussion might become heated and breach interparliamentary courtesy, given the testy public exchange of lawmakers from both sides in recent days.

“We still have many things that we want to happen. The reason we can’t still adjourn (committee hearings), because we’re hoping that we’d be given permission to have a face-to-face discussion with our counterparts in the House,” Padilla told reporters in Filipino after holding consultations with Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile.

He said while the House already has on record its justifications as to why it is pushing for con-con in passing RBH 6, he still wanted to hear them directly from Rodriguez and his colleagues.

He said while he will continue to heed Zubiri’s request, he reviewed yesterday the Senate rules and saw nothing that prohibits any committee from inviting House members to hearings, even as he allayed fears from the Senate chief and other colleagues that the meeting might become heated.

He said despite differences in the preferred mode and scope, Charter change proponents in both chambers want the same thing.

“I don’t see any reason for us to quarrel. In our work, we cannot avoid to have debates… I’m the kindest committee chairman here and if there are breaches in our rules, I’m prepared to deal with them,” Padilla said.

A majority of senators are skeptical of Charter change as the House wants it, saying they would support amendments to the Constitution only if these cover the restrictive economic provisions, and this should be done though a constituent assembly where both chambers convene as one amending body but voting separately.

Meanwhile, during the hearing, Enrile backed the senators’ stand on Charter change, saying the economic provisions of the Constitution were “antiquated.”

The former Senate president and defense minister also proposed the deletion of the constitutional provision against nuclear weapons.

“I think in my personal opinion that was a serious and unwanted provision of the Constitution in the modern world today. A small country can protect itself against the superpowers if they have nuclear weapons,” Enrile said.