President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. believes the proposed amendments in people's initiative for Charter change was “too divisive,” Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said Monday.
In a press conference, Zubiri said he and Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda met with Marcos and House Speaker Martin Romualdez on January 11 before the Vin d'Honneur to raise concerns on the proposed amendments contained in the people's initiative.
“The President agreed with us that the proposal was too divisive, and asked the Senate to instead take the lead in reviewing the economic provisions of the Constitution. In this way, we can preserve our bicameral nature of legislation,” he said.
Zubiri said the proposal subject of the people’s initiative could result in a constitutional crisis, “destabilizing our bicameralism and upsetting the system of checks and balances.”
“While we respect and recognize the people as our sovereign, with the right to call for Constitutional change, we must guard against any attempt to revise the Constitution by exploiting our democratic process under the guise of a people’s initiative,” he said.
He said while the Senate is vehemently opposed to a dilution of its participation in the task of reviewing the Constitution, it exercised all restraint, because in any conflict, it is always the people who stand to suffer the most.”
“While the Constitution must be reviewed in keeping with the demands of the present and the possibilities of the future, we believe that we must first exhaust all other avenues open to us, through policy-making and legislation,” he added.
Romualdez last year said 2024 is the right time to push for Charter change, and said he was keen on launching a people’s referendum to determine how Congress should vote on proposals amending the Constitution.
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