MANILA — House Leaders pressed the Senate on Tuesday to act on charter change "with a sense of urgency," saying the onset of the May 2025 midterm election campaign could doom efforts to revise the Constitution.
 
For Bataan 1st District Rep. Geraldine Roman, delaying Senate action until October — the period for the filing of certificates of candidacy for the next general election — is practically killing the proposal.
 
"Sawang-sawa na kami diyan sa 'kill the bill' na 'yan," Roman said in a press conference with House leaders.

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The Senate began deliberations on Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 this week, with Sen. Sonny Angara, chair of the subcommittee holding hearings, saying he expects discussions to continue until October.
 
"You may choose to sit on it because you have the power to do it — and you can prove your power by sitting on it, because it's the process — but the question is not whether you are capable of doing it. The question is: Is it the right thing to do?" Roman also said.

House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe said he is afraid that lawmakers will be too busy planning for reelection campaigns to deliberate on the proposal for charter change.
 
"We would want to fast track it kung puwede, ngayon na," he said, adding the House already adopted a resolution for a constitutional convention that is also pending at the Senate.

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Dalipe, congressman for Zamboanga City's 2nd District, challenged the members of the Senate to make clear where they stand on amending the 1987 Constitution and make it an election issue.
 
"Come out in the open. Huwag po tayo magtago. Sabihin natin sa buong Pilipinas sino yung mga senador pabor to amend the 37-year-old Constitution at sino mga kontra. And the people of the Philippines will decide whom to put in the Senate," he said.

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Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri filed RBH6 last month, saying then that that expected the Senate to adopt the resolution by March.
 
"The timeline was not given by the House of Representatives. We got that timeline in a statement made by the Senate president," Dalipe said.
 
"'Yun ang sinasabi lang ni Senate president at yun lang ang sinasagot ng House of Representatives," Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales Jr. of Pampanga said in the same press conference.
 
"Hindi po namin inuutusan yung mga senador. Hindi po namin sila inuutusan nagbabase lang po kami doon sa mga sinasabi ng kanilang lider," he added.

"Kung talagang kailangan natin ito dahil sa ating bayan tapusin natin. pagkaisahin natin ang RBH bill na ito," TGP Party-List Rep. Jose "Bong" Teves Jr. said.
 
Teves maintained that the ongoing People's Initiative signature campaign would not have happened if the Senate had acted on previous charter change proposals.

Angara said Monday that he hopes to end deliberations on RBH6 by October and hold a plebiscite during the 2025 elections.

"No law is more important than the Constitution. Any proposal to change even a part should be studied in a manner that is rigorous and not slapdash or slipshod, exhaustive and not superficial," Angara said at the Senate hearing on Monday.

"It must be shepherded by a clear agenda."