Senators oppose Duterte’s eyed unicameral body under federalism

Several senators on Monday expressed opposition to President Rodrigo Duterte’s vision of a unicameral legislature under a federal form of government. 

In an interview, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon warned that under a unicameral Congress, “whatever the House of Representative wants, the House of Representative gets.”

“Certainly, the view of the political leader of this country has a lot of weight insofar as Congress is concerned, especially that there is a supermajority in Congress, but this is a bicameral congress and we would like to think that the Senate has always been proud of its independence as a tradition,” Drilon said.

Drilon said Duterte’s recent statement confirmed his theory that the recent “bashing” of House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on the Senate is part of the plan “to demean the value” of the upper chamber.

“We believe in the principle of check and balance and the Senate and the House of Representatives would exercise their respective functions as part of the check and balance system in the legislature,” he added.

In a MindaNews report, it said Duterte wants a “federal Philippines without a Senate but a unicameral legislature composed of around 50 members with no party-list representatives and a central government still based in Malacañang.”

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said it was the first time he heard Duterte say that he is in favor of a unicameral body, which is contrary to the position of his party, the PDP-Laban.

Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said retaining the bicameral legislature is still “ideal.”

“Bicam pa rin ang ideal kahit all over the world eh ung mga unicameral laging nagkakaroon ng sakit ng ulo eh,” Sotto said.

“Baka lang medyo nabibigla lang ung iba nating kasama na naiisip na maganda ang unicameral mas madali, mas madali ring magkamali,” he added.

Senator Grace Poe, for her part, cautioned that “there is danger in anything that is done in a rush without much thought.”

Senator Panfilo Lacson, meanwhile, urged his colleagues to have an open mind on the issue, pointing out that unicameral body will not only abolish the Senate, but the House of Representatives as well.

Lacson has filed a resolution to constitute the Senate as a constituent assembly (ConAss) for the purpose of amending the Constitution.

This way, Lacson said, the Senate is not rendered irrelevant, as some congressmen have been pushing for joint voting in joint session when Congress convenes for Charter change (Cha-cha).

Sotto and Poe said they intend to ask Lacson to be co-authors of his resolution.

Poe meanwhile said the ConAss, when constituted, should only focus on the Charter’s ecnomic provisions.

“The Constitution is a living, breathing document but we need to be able to make sure that it is something that we need at this time. For example, I am more of the view that it is the economic provisions that should be a priority when we change the Constitution,” Poe said. — RSJ, GMA News