MANILA, Philippines – Senators against the proclamation of martial law in Maguindanao faces a losing battle. They lack the numbers to defeat the overwhelming majority in the Lower House once voting is conducted jointly.

Both chambers are expected to cast their vote on Proclamation No. 1959 in a joint session within the week. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued the proclamation, which placed Maguindanao under martial law weeks after the president’s allies in Maguindanao allegedly massacred 57 people.

The declaration has been criticized as ‘overkill’ since there were purportedly no clear signs of rebellion, the only ground specified in the 1987 Constitution for the declaration of martial law.

In the Senate, 18 out of 23 senators said that the proclamation should be revoked as it runs contrary to the constitution.

But according also to the Charter, 147 votes from Congress would be needed to void the declaration of martial law. The Senate has 23 members, while the House of Representatives has 268.

“The House of Representatives could block a revocation simply by being absent, or by casting a no vote. Even if all 23 senators voted for revocation, there would still be no compliance with the Charter,” Senator and former regional trial court judge Miriam Defensor-Santiago said in a press statement.

The House of Representatives is dominated by Arroyo’s allies.

But majority floor leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said that even if the odds are stacked against them, the senators would be able to manifest their take on the issue. “Obviously, we do not have the numbers in the Senate…Kung matalo sa botohan, so be it,” he said.

Con-com speaks

Santiago quoted from the records of the Constitutional Commission, which decided that the legislative should vote jointly.

She added that Commissioners Christian Monsod and Rene Sarmiento tried to placate the Senate by saying that it could still extend its advice to the House.

Commissioner Ambrosio Padilla initially proposed separate voting, however. He was supported by Commissioner Francisco Rodrigo, who stressed that the two chambers must be made co-equal.

Alter-egos invited

Meanwhile, Zubiri, along with senators Francis Pangilinan, Richard Gordon and Alan Peter Cayetano will sit down with their counterparts in the Lower House – Congressmen Neptali Gonzalez, Art Defensor and Raul del Mar – Monday night to establish the rules of the joint session.

Zubiri said that the rules will particularly cover the conduct of voting jointly. “Maybe it would be the senators to vote first and then the House of Representatives, but the numbers may still be the same,” he said.

The Congress would invite Executive Sec. Eduardo Ermita plus the representatives of the Department of National Defense, Department of Justice and Department of Interior and Local Government tomorrow and let them present how the situation on-the-ground necessitates martial law.

“The executive will be present. We’re going to structure it in a way that during the agenda uunahin talaga to lay the predicate, at the same time to ask if there’s a necessity for the Martial Rule in the province,” he said.