House files identical Cha-cha resolution as Senate, targets passage before SONA

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has introduced a measure identical to the Senate’s that proposes the lifting of economic restrictions in the 1987 Constitution, with House leaders aiming for final approval at least before the president’s third State of the Nation Address.

In a press conference on Monday, House leaders discussed their filing of Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 7, which proposes the same three economic amendments through constituent assembly as the Senate’s RBH 6.

Like its Senate counterpart, RBH 7 seeks to lift the restrictions on foreign ownership in public utilities, education and advertising. 

Authors of RBH 7 include Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Dong Gonzales, House Majority Leader Rep. Manuel Dalipe, Rep. David Suarez (Quezon, 2nd District), among others.

“There should be no doubts. We really patterned it. Because they might say this is a different version filed by the House. Constituent assembly. Exactly the same economic provisions the Senate has filed,” Dalipe said in a mix of English and Filipino.

House leaders said that the only key difference between the Senate and House versions is that they want to deliberate the resolution as a committee of the whole – which means all members of the House will have the chance to debate RBH 7’s contents from the get-go instead of starting at the committee level.

“The committee of the whole, that’s not final yet because we have to deliberate it at plenary. That’s one of the proposals to hasten things because the House of Representatives has been in the position that these economic provisions should be made in this Congress, in the 19th Congress,” Dalipe said. 

“So if we are with that thought that we would like these economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution to be changed, we would want things to be faster or be expedited,” Dalipe added.

Dalipe said that whether the House will convene as a committee of the whole for RBH 7 will depend on the action made after the bill reaches the House rules committee, which he chairs.

In comparison, the Senate is currently tackling RBH 6 through deliberations at the committee level first, which includes roadshows and consultations, before it