No Senate Cha-cha before Holy Week

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the speedy approval by the House of Representatives of a resolution on Charter change, the Senate is taking its time and is unlikely to pass its version of the measure before the Holy Week break.

Based on the Senate agenda and schedule for the last week of session, Sen. Sonny Angara’s subcommittee on constitutional amendments has not set any hearing on Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 (RBH6) until the last session day on March 20. Congress’ recess is set from March 23 to April 28.

The House approved Resolution of Both Houses No. 7 (RBH7) on second reading last Wednesday.

In Prague, both Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Speaker Martin Romualdez, who were part of President Marcos’ delegation to the Czech Republic, said their chambers were on track to pass economic Cha-cha.

It was unclear, however, whether Zubiri and Romualdez were in agreement on the timeline for Charter change.

Romualdez posted on X a photo of him with Zubiri, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual and Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. taken at Prague Castle, the Czech Republic’s seat of government, shortly before the bilateral meeting there between President Marcos and Czech President Petr Pavel.

The state visit aims to strengthen “the bilateral cooperation and multilateral partnership between the two countries,” Romualdez said.

A source said the Senate had appealed to the House to set  the third and final approval of RBH7 before Congress’ adjournment on May 25.

“Maybe the Senate did not want the House to pass the resolution way ahead of them so they are asking if the House can, instead, approve RBH7 before the sine die adjournment,” the source said.

But Zubiri said he had no clue as to who was making the appeal.

Angara’s committee has so far conducted four public hearings on RBH6, on Feb 5, 12, 20 and March 5. At the hearings, the senators tackled the key elements of the proposal to amend specific economic provisions of the Constitution, particularly on public service, the education sector and advertising industry.

Legal luminaries, business executives and representatives from the education sector attended the