Bernas formula? House leader says no such thing as fourth mode in Cha-cha

Present efforts by both houses of Congress to amend the economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution do not need a remedial legislation for separate voting, a leader of the House of Representatives said Wednesday.

In a press conference, House Deputy Majority Leader Boyet Gonzales said separate voting already falls under the Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) as provided by the current Charter.

“There is no such thing as fourth mode. There are only three modes. Where are we now? We are in the first mode of which Congress may vote [on the proposed amendments] by three fourths of all its members,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales made the response after Senator Francis Tolentino filed a resolution seeking to allow constitutional amendments through the formula devised by the late Fr. Joaquin Bernas — or the Bernas formula — wherein both houses of Congress will tackle and vote on the proposed amendments in their respective chambers as they do in ordinary bills.

The 1987 Constitution provides means of amending the Charter through three modes:

• by con-ass wherein an amendment to the Charter would have to earn three fourths of the votes of all the members of Congress;
• by constitutional convention wherein delegates who will amend the Charter will be elected by the people; and
• by people’s initiative provided that 12% of the registered voters and 3% of the voters of each district sign to the amendment

“Former Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio already put it well. He said when the Constitution says that Congress, by a vote of three fourths of all its members, it means it is a bicameral body. It refers to both the House and the Senate,” Gonzales said.

The lawmaker further said that there is no mandate in the 1987 Constitution that says both Houses of Congress should sit in a joint assembly to amend the Constitution. 

“It just says Congress, by three fourth votes of all its members [can amend the Constitution]. We can have separate proceedings, just like what we are doing right now. The House must approve it by three fourths of all its members, and the Senate should approve it also [by three fourths of all its members]. Kung walang ganon, there is no proposed amendment to speak of,” he added.

(If the House and the Senate won’t be able to pass its respective Charter change resolutions, then there is no amendment to speak of.)

Senate’s Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 6 explicitly states that the voting of the House and the Senate should be done separately.

The House’s RBH 7, on the other hand, does  not expressly provide for separate voting for the House and the Senate.

Senator Cynthia Villar earlier said that Senators have doubts that the House will stick with limiting the Charter amendments to economic provisions, given that the RBH 7 does not expressly provide for separate voting of the House and the Senate on proposed amendments.

The Senators have also noted that a joint voting will render the votes of the 24 senators useless as against the votes of over 300 members of the House.  —KBK, GMA Integrated News