ALBAY Rep. Edcel Lagman on Sunday said he would bring to the Supreme Court the question of whether or not the House of Representatives and the Senate could vote separately should Congress be convened as a constituent assembly (Con-ass) to amend the Constitution.
Lagman said the Senate’s insistence on separate voting was yet another reason to junk the idea of a Con-ass in favor of a regular constitutional convention (Con-con).
The Constitution does not make a distinction between senators and representatives when they are convened as a constituent assembly, he said.
AN OPPOSITION lawmaker warned Sunday that the administration’s supermajority in the House and Senate would lead to wholesale amendments to the Constitution “simply because they have the numbers,” once Congress constitutes itself as a constituent assembly to amend the Charter.
At the same time, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman warned that choosing a constituent assembly as opposed to an elected constitutional convention as the mode of amendment would take longer, because he intended to bring the question of separate voting for the two chambers of Congress to the Supreme Court.
AN OPPOSITION lawmaker on Friday accused the majority bloc in the House of installing what he described as a “fake” minority bloc in a bid to railroad the proposed federalism being pushed by the Duterte administration.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said putting up a friendly opposition in the Lower House was suspect after House leaders opted to revise the 1987 Constitution through a Constitutional Convention but later favored a Constituent Assembly.
“The order of the day is inordinate fast-tracking with the hegemony of super majorities assured,” Lagman said in a statement.
MANILA — This is the Philippines, not Vatican City. And yet here we are, in 2016, the only country in the world other than the Holy See that still outlaws divorce.
Although our Constitution formally guarantees the separation of church and state, the Catholic establishment here wields considerable influence in politics, commenting on specific policies or helping select candidates for office. The Church has long opposed what it calls the “D.E.A.T.H.” bills — laws proposing to allow divorce, euthanasia, abortion, total population control and homosexual marriage — calling them “anti-family and anti-life.”
The following objections to the recognition of Rep. Danilo Suarez as “minority leader” are placed on record:
1. The legitimate and authentic Minority Leader is the Hon. Teddy Baguilat, Jr. who was the clear-cut runner-up to Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez as he garnered more votes than Rep. Suarez.
2. By custom and tradition, which are part of the Rules of the House, the aspirant for Speaker who gets the second highest number of votes is automatically the Minority Leader.
3. There is no need for the Minority Members to elect a Minority Leader because Rep. Baguilat, Jr. has been elected by them as Minority Leader consequent to the election of the Speaker on 25 July 2016.
4. Rep. Suarez disqualified himself to aspire for or be elected Minority Leader because he is a member of the Majority having voted for Speaker Alvarez (first paragraph of Sec. 8, Rule 2 of the Rules of the House).
5. The 20 Representatives who abstained during the 25 July election for Speaker are considered Independent members of the House and are not part of the Minority (last paragraph of Sec. 8 of Rule 2). Consequently, they have no authority to call for the election of a Minority Leader, as they illegally did this morning, 27 July 2016.
6. The 20 “abstentionists” are Majority allies since they have undeniably forged a coalition with the PDP-Laban, the administration party, or affiliated with political parties which are components of the super majority. Hence, as Majority partisans, they do not have the right to elect a “minority leader”.
Accordingly, the recognition of Rep. Danilo Suarez as “minority leader” is baseless, illegal and repugnant to the pertinent provisions of the Rules of the House.
A sham aggrupation selected Rep. Suarez. No amount of recognition could condone and legitimize this inordinate travesty.
