Romualdez, Escudero meet today to discuss priority bills, fix gap

SPEAKER Martin Romualdez is set to meet with Senate President Francis Escudero today to discuss the administration’s legislative priorities and fix the relationship between the two chambers, which has been strained due to the People’s Initiative (PI) and Charter change (Cha-cha) issues, among others.

Romualdez said the meeting would ensure that there will be an open communication between the House of Representatives and the Senate, which is now under the leadership of Escudero who replaced Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri.

“Bukas, magkakaroon tayo ng meeting, at syempre, tatalakayin ang priority legislative agenda (Tomorrow, we’ll have a meeting and of course, we’ll discuss our priority legislative agenda),” the Speaker told reporters on the sidelines of the 126th Independence Day celebration at Barasoain Church in Malolos City in Bulacan yesterday.

Zubiri resigned from his post as Senate President last month after learning that a group of senators were planning to oust him.

Among the reasons that supposedly led to Zubiri’s removal were the PI, Cha-cha and the hearings of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Illegal Drugs, which is chaired by Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, to investigation the allegation that President Marcos Jr. used illegal drugs when he was still a senator way back in 2012.

Senators and congressmen engaged in a word war earlier this year after private proponents launched a PI campaign to introduce amendments to the 1987 Constitution.

The campaign, which was openly backed by congressmen, sought to diminish the role of the Senate in revising the Constitution, a move which angered senators who blocked the move and even held hearings to investigate allegations that PI proponents paid those who signed the forms which were submitted to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The President subsequently rejected the PI bid and announced that the Senate will take the lead in changing the Charter, prompting Zubiri to file Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 (RBH) 6, or the economic Cha-cha bill which remains pending until now before the sub-committee on constitutional amendments. The House has already approved on third and final reading its own version of the measure,