Press Release - Robin Files Resolution for Separate Voting in Amending Constitution

Sen. Robinhood "Robin" C. Padilla on Monday filed a resolution seeking to finally address the long-standing issue of whether the Senate and House of Representatives should vote separately or jointly in amending the 1987 Constitution.

In Resolution of Both Houses 7, Padilla sought to amend Section 1 of Article XVII (Amendments or Revisions) in the Constitution to have both houses of Congress voting separately.

"There is a need to amend the aforementioned provision in order to be consistent with the intention of the framers of the Constitution to adopt a bicameral legislature and to leave no room for interpretation as to the manner of voting which over the years have caused disputes among both the Senate and House of Representatives," he said.

Under RBH 7, Padilla proposed that Section 1 of Article XVII be amended to allow any amendment to - or revision of - the 1987 Constitution to be proposed by Congress, "by a vote of three-fourths of both Houses in joint session assembled, voting separately; or a constitutional convention."

In an interview on ANC earlier Monday, Padilla emphasized the issue of voting jointly or separately must be resolved before Congress tackles other aspects of amending the Constitution.

"Kasi hindi matatapos ito, legal question ito. Pati judiciary, maraming comments. Kung ang comments ma-absorb nating lahat ang gulo gulo na. Kaya pwede sana magkaroon tayo ng itong Congress na ito ang 19th Congress matapos ang usaping ito at magkaroon ng finality kung ano ang nasa Art 17 Sec 1 na yan (This is a never-ending legal issue. Even in the judiciary, several comments have been made. If we just absorb those comments, we'll get confused. So I hope the 19th Congress will address this with finality)," he said.

Meanwhile, Padilla stressed anew the need to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution to remove stumbling blocks to progress.

He said that while framers of the 1987 Charter promoted a "Filipino First" principle, this may no longer be fit during the time of globalization - with the Philippines now 13th of 14 economies in the Asia-Pacific in the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Attractiveness Scorecard in 2020.

While Congress passed the