Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman. (File photo by EDWIN BACASMAS / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Opposition lawmaker Albay 1st Dist. Rep. Edcel Lagman insisted on Tuesday that the House of Representatives and the Senate would have to convene together to amend the 1987 Constitution.
In a press briefing, the Magnificent Seven bloc member took exception to Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez鈥檚 Monday declaration that the process of Charter change is already under way even without waiting for the Senate鈥檚 concurrence in House Concurrent Resolution No. 9.
Neither did Lagman agree with Senator Panfilo Lacson鈥檚 insistence that the Senate should convene into its own constituent assembly out of concerns that the 23-member chamber would be outnumbered by the 292-member House.
鈥淚f only the representatives would be meeting, then it is not consistent with the mandate of the Constitution,鈥� Lagman told reporters.
鈥淭here can be no separate [constituent assembly] by the House and another by the Senate. They have to meet together, they have to meet each other to propose amendments to the Constitution,鈥� he added.
Alvarez argued on Monday that Section 1, Article XVII of the 1987 Constitution did not explicitly state the need for a 鈥渃onstituent assembly,鈥� and only required the votes of three-fourths of all 315 legislators (or a threshold of 237) from both the House and the Senate to submit a revised Constitution for the electorate鈥檚 approval in a plebiscite.