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Senate places Cha-cha ‘on backburner’
By Nidz Godino
“Pending bills on Charter change will be placed in back-burner and will follow ordinary and regular process of legislation, if at all…in its stead, bills which can affect the same result, but without needless political noise and bickering, will be prioritized,” senate president, Francis Escudero said for his first opening session as senate president, stressed independence of Senate and urged his colleagues to set aside pieces of legislation that “divide public.”
Charter change would be among those to be placed at the bottom of the list, Escudero declared at the opening session of Congress.
He also cited sentiments of former president Manuel Quezon, who said Senate must prioritize quality of legislation rather than number of bills passed.
Senate had clashed with House of Representatives when it came to people’s initiative for Charter change. In January, all senators slammed lower chamber for charter change. Should House’s charter change efforts have succeeded, both chambers would be allowed to jointly vote to amend 1987 Constitution. House, boasting of at least 200 lawmakers, would easily outvote 24 senators.
For Escudero, while it is House’s role to gauge public sentiment, it was Senate’s job to nuance this in legislation.
“We will tackle items in common legislative agenda, forged with Executive and those nurtured by both House and Senate, for legislation is not one-way process,” Escudero said.
While measures have been taken to ease business dealings in the Philippines, Escudero said there could be more effort to ease lives of simple Filipinos.
The new senate president will ask three basic questions when it came to prioritizing bills:
- Will it make the lives of Filipinos easier?
- Will it help us move faster?
- Will it make the people’s burdens lighter?
“For me, foremost task of senators is to be chief common sense officers of government…for common sense, for me is what would bring ease to lives of our countrymen,” Escudero said.
National budget and maritime rights will rank high on Senate’s agenda as it opened ahead of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s third State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 22.
Specifically, Maritime Zone and Sea Lanes Act will “strengthen our claims over what is ours, we will strengthen our military, not to ignite any conflict, ” Escudero said at subsequent press conference as session was suspended.
Another bill Senate will prioritize is upcoming national budget, Escudero said.
Divorce and death penalty bills, meanwhile, are not considered “controversial,” he argued. While they are not tagged as priorities, these will also be heard and debated. “It will just have to go through test of legislative process and mill,” Escudero said.
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