(UPDATES) SEN. Robinhood Padilla filed a petition before the Supreme Court on Monday asking it to determine whether the Senate and the House of Representatives should vote jointly or separately on amendments to the Constitution.
The question has been a sticking point to previous attempts to amend the Constitution, with senators tending to support separate voting and members of the House joint voting.
“The ones who drafted the Constitution have admitted … they really failed in that matter, that amending certain provisions in the Constitution, Congress should vote separately,” Padilla told reporters following the filing of his petition.
Senator Robin Padilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision Codes, files a petition seeking declaratory relief on key issues in the 1987 Constitution before the Supreme Court on Monday, August 25, 2024. PHOTOS BY MIKE ALQUINTO
“So, I hope, with the wisdom, with what we call the clear thinking of our judges, they can finally resolve the issue. We are not asking for advice; we are asking for a resolution. We are asking for the Court to resolve this conflict,” he added.
Padilla further pointed out that he could not perform his functions as chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Reforms “due to the ambiguities” of Sections 1 and 3 of Art. XVII of the Constitution.
He invoked the Supreme Court’s constitutional power to “settle an existing, actual controversy,” which are purely questions of law, “as it ruminates on the proper application and interpretation of Constitutional provisions.”
“Without the honorable Court’s declarative pronouncements, these questions, as well as the unstable relations between the two Houses of Congress, shall persist,” Padilla said.
In filing the petition, the senator quoted President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who declared that both Congress should settle the debate on how to amend the Charter.
He also pointed out the numerous resolutions filed in Congress that sought to amend provisions in the Charter.
“Neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives wants to give in to the other’s interpretation… In other words, the same misinterpretations caused by the ambiguities, which Congress seeks to resolve, are preventing all of its efforts to resolve the controversy,” Padilla said.
In his petition, Padilla asked the Court to determine if, voting jointly, the requirement of three-fourths voting under Sec. 1(1) be treated as a three-fourths vote by the Senate plus a three-fourths vote by the House or a three-fourths vote by the 24 senators with all members of the House of Representatives.
He also asked the high court to decide whether the Senate and House should jointly convene and assemble when voting for calling a constitutional convention and submit to the electorate the question of calling such a convention.
Senator Robin Padilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision Codes, files a petition seeking declaratory relief on key issues in the 1987 Constitution before the Supreme Court on Monday, August 25, 2024. PHOTOS BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Senator Robin Padilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision Codes, files a petition seeking declaratory relief on key issues in the 1987 Constitution before the Supreme Court on Monday, August 25, 2024. PHOTOS BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Senator Robin Padilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision Codes, files a petition seeking declaratory relief on key issues in the 1987 Constitution before the Supreme Court on Monday, August 25, 2024. PHOTOS BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Senator Robin Padilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision Codes, files a petition seeking declaratory relief on key issues in the 1987 Constitution before the Supreme Court on Monday, August 25, 2024. PHOTOS BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Senator Robin Padilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision Codes, files a petition seeking declaratory relief on key issues in the 1987 Constitution before the Supreme Court on Monday, August 25, 2024. PHOTOS BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Senator Robin Padilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision Codes, files a petition seeking declaratory relief on key issues in the 1987 Constitution before the Supreme Court on Monday, August 25, 2024. PHOTOS BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Senator Robin Padilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision Codes, files a petition seeking declaratory relief on key issues in the 1987 Constitution before the Supreme Court on Monday, August 25, 2024. PHOTOS BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Senator Robin Padilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision Codes, files a petition seeking declaratory relief on key issues in the 1987 Constitution before the Supreme Court on Monday, August 25, 2024. PHOTOS BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Senator Robin Padilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision Codes, files a petition seeking declaratory relief on key issues in the 1987 Constitution before the Supreme Court on Monday, August 25, 2024. PHOTOS BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Senator Robin Padilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision Codes, files a petition seeking declaratory relief on key issues in the 1987 Constitution before the Supreme Court on Monday, August 25, 2024. PHOTOS BY MIKE ALQUINTO
Also when voting jointly, Padilla asked the Court to resolve if the requirements of a two-thirds vote under Sec. 3, Art. XVII, be treated as a two-thirds vote in the Senate plus a two-thirds vote in the House, or a two-thirds vote of all 24 senators and all members of the House.
Finally, he asked the Supreme Court to declare whether the requirement of a “majority vote” under Sec. 3, Art. XVII can be treated as a majority vote in the Senate plus a majority vote in the House or a majority vote of all 24 senators voting with all members of the House when voting to amend the Constitution.
Padilla noted the “tension” between members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, which started from the people’s initiative proposal that included both Houses voting jointly.
The 24-seat Senate has taken the position that voting should be done separately, or else they would be outnumbered by the more than 300 members of the House.
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