MANILA, Philippines - The Senate faces a losing battle on having the proclamation of martial law in Maguindanao revoked, as it lacks the numbers to defeat the overwhelming majority in the lower house once voting is conducted jointly.

Both chambers are expected to cast their votes on Proclamation No. 1959 in a joint session within the week. Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued the proclamation, which placed Maguindanao under martial law two weeks after 57 people were allegedly killed by armed followers of Arroyo’s allies, the Ampatuans.  

The declaration has been criticized as an "overkill" since there were no clear signs of rebellion or invasion, the only grounds 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.

However, the Constitution also provides that Congress may revoke a martial law declaration through a majority vote--147 legislators--of both houses in joint session. 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 Miriam Defensor-Santiago said in a press statement.

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

But Senate 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's ruling

Santiago quoted the records of the Constitutional Commission, which ruled 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. He was supported by Commissioner Francisco Rodrigo, who stressed that the two chambers must be made co-equal.
 
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 – on Monday night to establish the rules of the joint session.
 
Zubiri said that the rules will 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 plans to invite Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, plus the representatives of the Department of National Defense, Department of Justice, and Department of Interior and Local Government on Tuesday so they can present why the situation on-the-ground necessitated martial law. 
 
“The executive [branch] 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.