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Congress leaders agree to proceed with 'Cha-cha' separately


Leaders of both chambers of Congress on Thursday agreed to separately proceed with the process to amend economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution. Senator Franklin Drilon said House and Senate leaders agreed to his proposal to deliberate and vote separately on Charter change (Cha-cha) during their first legislative summit. “What I have proposed is a bicameral constituent assembly kung saan magkabilang kapulungan ay boboto ng hiwalay. We will use the law-making procedure in amending the Constitution. We are glad that there is unanimity on this," he said in a press briefing. The two chambers of Congress on Thursday held their first ever legislative summit to reconcile their priority bills, and to tackle how they will proceed with proposals to amend the Constitution. Drilon said a bicameral constituent assembly would settle the “problem" encountered in past attempts on whether to vote separately or jointly on proposed amendments to modify the Constitution. “We discussed only the procedural aspect. This process has never been tried before… We are now proposing something that goes beyond the problem," he said. House Majority Leader and Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali Gonzales II were optimistic that specific provisions of the current Charter would finally be amended. "A general consensus" “The reason why we are upbeat about this is that there is a general consensus that we will be voting separately. We have a positive outlook on this," he said in the same press briefing. According to Gonzales, the House and the Senate will conduct separate committee deliberations, come up with separate committee reports and each will require three-fourths of its respective members to vote on and approve the proposals. After these, the two chambers will thresh out differences in their proposals through a bicameral conference committee, proceed to separately ratify the reconciled proposals then submit the amendments to a national plebiscite. Transparency, public participation Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile assured that both chambers would proceed with transparency and public participation. “We are not going to rush this without thinking about it very carefully. We have to open discussion to all sectors of society… The final act will be the people themselves," he said. He likewise assured that Congress would not modify the Charter if it does not find anything wrong with the current version. The Senate President added that Congress would seek the President’s blessing on the move to amend the 1987 Constitution. “Eventually, the President will come into play. We act as a holistic government," Enrile said. House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., on the other hand, said he is confident that amendments to the Constitution’s economic provisions will be passed soon. “This is pretty straightforward. We do not think this will drag on for long," he said. — VS, GMA News

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