MANILA, Philippines - The Senate and the House of Representatives have agreed to hold at 4 p.m. on Wednesday the start of the joint session to tackle Proclamation No. 1959 declaring martial law and suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in parts of Maguindanao province.  

The rules to govern the joint session have been drafted and will be approved by both Houses on Tuesday, according to a text message sent Tuesday noon by the Office of Speaker Prospero Nograles.

"Rules of engagement, once approved, will pave the way for this historic event that finds no precedence in Congress. This is a first under our watch," Nograles said. 

It's the first time martial law has been declared under the 1987 Constitution. Congress only holds joint sessions for the annual State of the Nation Address, and every three years during elections to convene Congress as the National Board of Canvassers.

Copies of the draft rules for the joint session were not yet available, as of posting time.

20-hour interpellation

In an interview on ANC's Dateline Philippines on Tuesday, Senate majority floor leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said that after the start of the joint session at 4 p.m., they plan to approve the rules of the joint session.

Debates on the joint rules are expected, but they hope to approve it after.

After the rules are approved, Congress will listen to the alter egos of the President, namely, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, National Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of Staff Gen. Victor Ibrado, and Philippine National Police Chief Jesus Verzosa.

After their explanations, each legislative chamber will be given 10 hours to interpellate the resource persons.

Zubiri said the plan is to have one senator and one congressman alternate in the interpellations. This will also depend on how many want to ask questions.

"This is probably the longest period of this exercise. What is going to happen is, that will be the period of opportunity in which our colleagues will be able to ask and interpellate and actually give queries or questions to resource persons on the necessity of martial law,"
he said.

After the 20-hour interpellation, there will be a formal motion on both sides to revoke Proclamation 1959. The motion will be seconded, while one member will object, assuming there are objections. Each of them will be given 10 minutes to explain.

The joint session will then proceed to vote on the motion.

Explanation of votes will be done alphabetically regardless of which legislative chamber the legislator comes from.

Voting jointly or separately

"Another ticklish issue last night was whether the Senate will vote first and then the House of Representatives. What was agreed upon last night so that nobody will anymore question the procedure is it will be done alphabetically," Zubiri said.

Zubiri said the senators have acknowledged that they will be outvoted in the joint session. But, he added, "what is important is, the sentiment of each solon is heard on this issue."

"Obviously, voting on the revocation of martial law is done jointly, by both houses. We will have to vote as one. The higher number of one side will win with the basic simple majority of 147 members of both houses," he said.

Zubiri said this issue of whether to vote jointly or separately was a "ticklish" concern that came up Monday night, but the Senate decided "not to include it anymore in the rules."

"Hopefully, what we will do is to allow the leadership of both houses to convene a smaller panel to come up with a consensus on these procedural matters," he said.

Charter change not allowed

Zubiri also said the joint session will not be able to take up other matters such as convening a Constituent Assembly in order to amend the 1987 Constitution.

If legislators try to do this, he said "those motions will be out of order at that point in time."

Asked if taking up other matters was allowed under the rules, Zubiri said: "No, because the joint resolution by both houses, the title is simply taking into consideration the martial law declaration of the president, nothing else. There can be nothing else in the agenda that can be taken up. It's not going to happen. The Senate and the House will not allow it. They never entertained this idea."

Zubiri said no less than Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and House Speaker Prospero Nograles will be at the joint session to ensure orderly proceedings.

"With set rules of parliamentary procedure, what we're trying to avoid is magkaroon ng sabong. What we don't want to happen is that the House and the Senate are going to debate and fight each other, it may turn bloody and ugly, and we don't want that to happen because eventually, what will suffer here is the institution of Congress," he said.

Zubiri also said he is personally against the martial law declaration since the civil liberties of the Maguindanaoans are affected.

2010 budget affected

He also said they do not want a "protracted debate or lengthy discussion on martial law issue that would derail the passage of the 2010 budget."

Zubiri said they would want the proposed 2010 budget passed instead of having the budget reenacted.

At least 147 votes, constituting a majority vote of Congress voting jointly, are needed to revoke martial law.

The senators have conceded that the decision to revoke or uphold martial law in Maguindanao will depend largely depend on the vote of the lower House. There are 268 congressmen and only 23 senators. 

Nograles earlier said he is confident that majority of the members of the House of Representatives favor martial law in Maguindanao. He said his colleagues would have called him endlessly if many of them were not in favor. 

Nevertheless, Nograles decided to defer the informal voting on Proclamation No. 1959 during Monday's all-members caucus. He said they decided to listen first to the resource speakers from Malacañang.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said 18 of the 23 senators want to revoke martial law. --with reports from Carmela Fonbuena, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreakl; ANC; Cecille Lardizabal, ABS-CBN News