THE House of Representatives on Monday will start plenary debates on Resolution of Both Houses 7 (RBH 7), which seeks to amend economic provisions of the Constitution.
In a statement issued on Sunday, House Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr., one of the resolution’s principal authors, said the plenary would tackle the report of the Committee of the Whole House, which had endorsed the approval of the resolution without amendments.
Gonzales said he expects the plenary deliberations to be shorter than the Committee of the Whole House’s proceedings.
“In plenary, the proponents of the economic Charter changes will defend their proposals. The plan is to have three days of debates, with the second-reading vote set shortly after the termination of discussions and the period for amendments on the third day,” he said.
Gonzales had said the House would try to obtain a vote on RBH 7 before Congress goes on a Holy Week break.
Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said he thinks the House can have RBH 7 approved before the break as long as interpellations are brief.
Barbers said the discussions in the hearings of the Committee of the Whole House were comprehensive and clear “and perhaps will not… elicit further clarifications” from other lawmakers.
Deputy Majority Leader and Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin has said there would be no political amendments when the House discusses RBH 7 at the plenary level.
The Committee of the Whole House approved RBH 7 on Wednesday.
Both RBH 6 filed at the Senate and RBH 7 cover Article XII (Section 11), Article XIV (paragraph 2 of Section 4), and Article XVI (paragraph 2 of Section 11).
Both seek to add the words “unless otherwise provided by law” to these provisions. Both resolutions also seek to add the word “basic” before the words “educational institutions” in the first sentence of paragraph 2, Section 4 of Article XIV.
Political amendments are “impossible,” Garin, who had served as a deputy majority leader of the Committee of the Whole House, said in a press briefing Thursday.
“If anyone tries to insert a political agenda, we will stand up to oppose it,” Quezon City 4th District Rep. Marvin Rillo also said on Thursday.
Bataan 1st District Rep. Geraldine Roman earlier said it would be “political suicide for any politician” to try to insert political amendments.
A little less than two weeks is left before the House goes on a Holy Week break.
“The ratification of the amendments will immediately send a powerful signal to investors that we want to attract more foreign investments in these sectors of the economy by changing those limitations down the road,” Gonzales said on Sunday.
He added that this would also help President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. convince foreign companies to invest in the Philippines.