The third and final reading on the death penalty bill which the House leadership scheduled today or tomorrow is premature.
It is not seasonable as it violates the three-day notice rule prescribed by Section 26(2) of Article VI of the Constitution which provides:
“No bill passed by either House shall become a law unless it has passed three readings on separate days and printed copies thereof in its final form had been distributed to its Members three days before its passage, except when the President certifies to the necessity of its immediate enactment…”
Similarly, Sec. 58 of Rule X of the Rules of the House provides:
“No bill or joint resolution shall become law unless it passes three (3) readings on separate days and printed copies thereof in its final form are distributed to the Members three (3) days before its passage except when the President certifies to the necessity of its immediate enactment ...”
The reported distribution of the printed copies to the offices of the Representatives last Thursday and Friday is unavailing and not compliant with the provision of the Constitution because what is required is distribution to the Members, not to their staff members.
The alleged distribution last Thursday is fatally defective because on Thursdays Representatives are not in their respective offices because most of them go home to their respective districts for constituency work and some have appointments with government officials concerning their districts, while Fridays are non-working days in the House of Representatives.
Moreover, allegations that copies were emailed to the Representatives last Thursday or Friday is not compliant as there is no showing that what was emailed was a bona fide copy of the final printed form, and that Representatives actually opened their respective emails on said days. Furthermore, there is also no indication that the email addresses are the Representatives’ actual respective accounts, not the email account of a staff member.
Verily, the first opportunity the Representatives were able to get the printed copies would have been yesterday, Monday, 06 March 2017, when they are presumed to be in their offices since Monday is a session day.
Counting the three-day rule from Monday, and pursuant to the computation that the first day is excluded while the last day is included, the third day will still be on Thursday, 09 March 2017. Consequently, the third reading is seasonable starting Friday, 10 March 2017, but Friday is not a session day.
The third and final reading of House Bill No. 4727 should therefore be next week.
The purpose of the readings on three separate days and the three-day notice rule before final reading was underscored by the Supreme Court with respect to Members of Congress, as follows: “(1) to inform the legislators on the matters they shall vote on and (2) to give them notice that a measure is in progress through the enactment process” (Lagman vs. Ochoa, G.R. No. 196271, October 18, 2011).
EDCEL C. LAGMAN