Senate-less Cha-cha unconstitutional – Pimentel

SENATE minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III yesterday said excluding the Senate from introducing amendments to the Constitution through the people’s initiative mode is “unconstitutional and impossible.”

Pimentel was reacting to the statement of House Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales who said leaders of political parties supportive of Charter change (Cha-cha) are exploring options, including a people’s initiative, that will not involve the Senate, which has been cold to the idea.

“Not involving the Senate and they believe that they can amend the constitution, impossible. Hindi lang unconstitutional, imposible pa (It is not only unconstitutional, but also impossible),” he told CNN Philippines’ The Source.

“People’s initiative will only be for surgical amendment of the Constitution. Very specific po ‘yan (It is very specific). And also, that takes a lot of effort. So, kilusan nila ‘yan basta, for as long as, we comply with what is required under the Constitution (They can exert effort [to carry out people’s initiative] as long as we comply with what is required under the Constitution),” he also said.

He added that if the House insists on doing it their way, the more it will lose support from senators who are originally in favor of Cha-cha, whom he said are “just a minority of 24 senators.”

“The support must be wide enough, and also deep enough. ‘Yan po ang requirement ng ating (That is the requirement of our) Constitution but then in my opinion, we cannot revise the Constitution through (a) people’s initiative (because) it’s just one topic, very specific topic,” he added.

He complained: “In their (congressmen) minds, they are already amending the Constitution as far as the process for amending the Constitution is concerned. Huwag nilang gagawin ‘yun (They should not do that). You amend the Constitution first. Even the procedure in amending the Constitution, you have to amend it properly rather than just doing it as if it has been amended.”

Under Article XVII of the 1987 Constitution, Charter amendments can be made through Congress upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members, through a constitutional convention, and through a people’s initiative upon a