MANILA - In a move that surprised his fellow administration allies, Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia on Tuesday moved to transmit to the Senate controversial House Resolution 1109 (HR 1109) convening Congress into a Constituent assembly (Con-ass) that would amend the Constitution.
 
However, the motion was later deferred.

During the interpellation following his privilege speech, Garcia, one of the sponsors of the measure, agreed with fellow Cebu Rep. Antonio Cuenco, that the House of Represenatives needs more time to "think about it."
 
It is not clear when the House plenary will take up HR 1109 again.
 
Lamenting negative reactions to the charter change measure, Garcia originally wanted the plenary to send HR 1109 to the Senate on the same night on Tuesday after plenary approval.
 
"Let us put an end to this controversy. The sooner we can put it behind us, the better. Enough is enough. The question is how? Mr. Speaker, there is only one way to do it. And that is by taking some bold positive and decisive action now. Tonight," Garcia said in the first privilege speech delivered since the resumption of session on Monday.
 
"It is order and imperative that HR 1109 be transmitted to the Senate for its concurrence or for whatever action they deem appropriate. I so move," Garcia said at the end of his speech.

Killing Cha-cha?

Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr., a co-sponsor of HR 1109, said Garcia's motion is "practically" a move to kill the charter change resolution.
 
"Definitely, there will be no action from the Senate," he said. (Read: 'Con-ass dead without Senate' - UP law professors  )

Barzaga said Garcia's motion, if approved, will also bar the Supreme Court from deciding on an expected case on whether joint voting is the proper way to convene a Constituent assembly.
 
"If it is transmittal, it is implied that it needs to be acted upon separately by the Senate. It would be an implied admission that the House of Representatives, even if they have the numbers, cannot constitute itself as a Constituent assembly without the participation of three-fourths members of the Senate," he said.
 
"The trouble is that if one of the primary reasons for the passage of [HR] 1109 was to create a justiciable controversy, then we have to address the issue of voting jointly. If it's voting separately, there will no longer be any question before the SC. Nobody will question," he added.
 
Barzaga said he will vote against Garcia's motion. He said the proper action should not be to transmit HR 1109 to the Senate, but to "invite" senators to the convening of a Constituent assembly.
 
"My vote is that we should invite the Senate to the Constitutent assembly in as much as they are members of Congress," Barzaga said.
 
"The invitation can be made verbally but prudence dictates that it should be in writing. In so far as I'm concerned, we have to send invitation to the Senate that a resolution has been passed by the House and they are invited--considering, of course, the senator would ignore the invitation. But we are not actually excluding them, we are inviting them," he explained.
 
Disagreements

The very proponents of HR 1109 have different interpretations on what HR 1109 means.
 
HR 1109 says: "Now, therefore, be it resolved that the members of Congress be convened for the purpose of proposing amendments to, or revision of the Constitution upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members and that upon its being convened shall adopt its rules of procedures that shall govern its proceeding."
 
The resolution further says that "three-fourths of all members of Congress" means "3/4 of the Congressmen and Senators taken together in the calculation of 3/4 of the members of Congress, without distinction as to which institution of Congress they belong to."
 
But Garcia interprets it differentlly.
 
"It is a matter of duty on the part of the House to send it to the Senate if the House believes that they are also members of Congress. It will be disrespectful on the part of the House not to send the resolution to whom it is really intended," said Garcia.
 
Shelve it?

Cuenco, the first to interpellate Garcia, proposed they should just shelve HR 1109. He argued that it will be "embarrassing" to send the charter change resolution to the Senate when they know the senators won't act on it.

Nueva Ecija Rep. Edno Joson concurred with Cuenco to shelve it.

But Garcia disagreed. "As long as HR 1109 is with us, people will continue to read into [HR] 1109 another intepretation," he said.
 
In the middle of Cuenco's interpellation, presiding majority floor leader Rep. Raul Del Mar--also from Cebu--called for a suspension. Garcia and Cuenco then had a discussion. When the interpellation resumed, they agreed to defer action on Garcia's motion.
 
Opposition Rep. Roilo Golez of Parañaque, also questioned why HR 1109 was being taken up again. He said this should not have been allowed because the House had already disposed of it after they approved it.
 
"I understand that there are those inside and outisde of this House who would like [HR] 1109 to stay with us so they can continue attacking this House," Garcia said.