President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. has said that he tapped the Senate to lead in amending the economic provisions of the Philippine 1987 Constitution.
"I always said that the Senate will take the lead. The Senate is taking the lead. Between the two houses, they will come to an agreement, that will be the way we will do it," he said in a media interview on Tuesday, February 20.
Marcos said he does not understand the rift between the House and the Senate since it "has been decided very long ago" that the Senate will push economic Charter-change.
The chief executive added he does not want to proclaim anything just to intervene since he already sat down with Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
He noted that getting things done are more important than pronouncements and proclamations.
"That's what were doing. We're doing it quietly. We do it without any fuzz. We just want to get those amendments incorporated into the constitution to improve the chances of investment and upskilling of our people," Marcos said.
On Monday, February 19, House leaders filed Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 7 seeking economic reforms in the Constitution, which is identical to the RBH No. 6 introduced and filed by Senate leaders in January.
Just like RBH6, RBH7 targets to amend Section 11 of Article XII (National Patrimony and Economy); Paragraph 2, Section 4 of Article XIV (Education, Science and Technology, Arts, Culture, and Sports); and Paragraph 2, Section 11 of Article XVI (General Provisions).