Escudero remains firm on Cha-cha opposition

Newly minted Senate President Francis Escudero said Monday he remains opposed to proposals amending the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

Escudero, who was installed as Senate president last week with 15 votes that ousted then Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, said his position on economic charter change is not going to change given that existing proposals are unclear on how members of Congress would vote.

‘Yan ang personal kong posisyon. Hindi nagbabago ‘yun. At kung maalala mo maski 'yung RBH 6 at 7 ay hindi rin ako sang-ayon du'n at kahit na 'yung unang pagdinig lang in-attend-an ko hindi na ako sang-ayon sa ginawang pagdinig nila Senate President Zubiri,” Escudero said in an Unang Balita interview.

(That is my personal position. It has not changed. And if you will remember, I was also not in favor of RBH 6 and 7 even if I attended only the first hearing in the Senate and did not support the succeeding hearings conducted by Senate President Zubiri.)

“Iyong pinakahuli ata nila ay sa Baguio na ang nag-attend ay si Senate President Zubiri, Senate Pro-tempore Legarda at 'yung itinalaga nilang chairman na si Chairman Angara. Personally hindi ako sang-ayon doon dahil hindi maliwanag na hiwalay ang botohan nga ba ng Senado at ng Kongreso,” Escudero added.

(The last one they had was in Baguio, and then Senate President Zubiri, Senator Loren and chairman [Sonny] Angara were there. I am not in favor of such because it is unclear if the House and the Senate would vote separately.)

Angara used to chair the subcommittee that tackled Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 6, but Angara has since relinquished such post when Escudero was elected Senate president.

RBH 7 amends the 1987 Constitution by lifting the 40% limit on foreign ownership of vital industries such as education, advertising and public utilities.

RBH 6 is the Senate’s version of RBH 7. The RBH 6, however, categorically states that the members of the House of Representatives and the Senate will vote separately on proposed constitutional amendments in a constituent assembly.

The House’s RBH 7 does not state such a categorical statement and instead provides that the constitutional amendments should be voted upon by three fourths of all members of Congress in a constitutional assembly as provided under the 1987 Constitution.

The House of Representatives has long approved RBH 7 on third and final reading last March.

However, it has failed to get the same level of support in the Senate, which sees such effort as a move to abolish the Senate due to the lack of explicit provision on separate voting and parallel initiative of amending the 1987 Charter by people’s initiative which is supported by House members. —KG, GMA Integrated News