Senator confident Senate-House impasse to settle soon

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Pro-Tempore Loren Legarda expressed confidence that the impasse between the Senate and the House of Representatives over efforts to amend the 1987 Constitution will soon be settled.

Legarda said Senate President Miguel Zubiri and Speaker Martin Romualdez might be talking now to settle the issue, which stemmed from the alleged fake people’s initiative reportedly initiated by some members of the House of Representatives pushing for Charter change, with Congress voting as one and jointly, diminishing the power of the 24 senators against 315 congressmen.

“They (Zubiri and Romualdez) have been friends for a long time, they have been working together for a long time, this is just a little misunderstanding and I am sure (that is fine),” Legarda said over radio dwIZ.

“In fact, maybe by now, they are talking. I was there in almost all meetings, as requested by SP Zubiri, to help explain to the House that we share the same causes, and there is so much work to do to help our people,” she added.

The Senate has started discussing Resolution of Both Houses 6 (RBH6), seeking to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution, particularly public services, the education sector and the advertising industry.

Zubiri and Legarda, along with Sen. Sonny Angara, authored RBH6 as agreed by Romualdez in the presence of President Marcos.

Legarda is optimistic that the impasse will be settled before President Marcos’ State of the Nation Address in July, where the senators and congressmen will have to jointly hold a session.