Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri (Photo credit: Senate/PRIB)
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri has warned of an emerging constitutional crisis which he considers tragic and unfortunate.
“We have warned about a possible constitutional crisis and tried to avoid it. But unfortunately, it seems that this is slowly happening,” Zubiri said in a statement on Friday.
House Speaker Martin Romualdez earlier wrote Zubiri expressing commitment of support to Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 (RBH 6), filed by Zubiri seeking to form a subcommittee under the Senate Committee on Consitutional Amendments and start the discussions on the proposal to amend three economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
Zubiri and Romualdez had a series of talks with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., where they reportedly agreed that RBH 6 will be approved by the Senate and adopted by the House of Representatives.
Romualdez’s letter further states that he is in full support of an “alternative people’s initiative,” which Zubiri denied was part of the discussion.
“We believe that any legitimate people’s initiative must be genuinely led by the people. The Senate still maintains that this people’s initiative, in its current form and how the signatures are being collected, is flawed and unconstitutional,” Zubiri stressed.
Still hoping that a constitutional crisis “will be averted soon,”
Zubiri, however, assured the Senate will remain vigilant and will carefully study options available and maintain bicameralism in the legislative branch and avert a constitutional crisis.
