Reacting to questions aired over the constitutionality of the second reading approval of House Bill (HB) No. 6732, Deputy Speaker and Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II insisted that the Lower House did not violate the Constitution when it convened itself into a committee of the whole after the bill underwent first reading and when it later passed HB 6732 on second reading the same day.
Authored by Cayetano and several other House leaders, HB 6732 seeks to grant ABS-CBN a provisional legislative franchise that will expire on October 31. Once passed into law, the measure will allow the network to resume operations, which were halted on May 5 on orders of the National Telecommunications Commission, after the network’s franchise expired May 4.
“I submit that the first and second reading may be done on separate days or on the same day, depending on the decision of the plenary, without violating the Constitution for as long as the third reading will be three days after distribution of printed copies,” Gonzales said.
Critics, among them Sen. Francis Pangilinan and lawyer Larry Gadon, cited Article VI, Section 26 as the Constitutional provision allegedly violated by the Cayetano-led Lower chamber.
This provision states: “(2) No bill passed by either House shall become a law unless it has passed three readings on separate days, and printed copies thereof in its final form have been distributed to its members three days before its passage, except when the President certifies to the necessity of its immediate enactment to meet a public calamity or emergency.”
Gadon called for the resignation of Cayetano for leading the chamber to commit such a violation of the Charter. He also accused congressmen of violating their own rules of procedure.
To support his view, Gonzales, a former majority leader, cited the Bayanihan Act We Heal as One Bill which was passed by the Lower House on first, second, and third reading on the same day.
He said HB 6732 has not been passed on third reading because “it is not certified.”
Meanwhile, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said Cayetano succumbed to pressure and settled for a compromise by granting a provisionary franchise for ABS-CBN.
“According to Cayetano and other House leaders who co-authored and sponsored the bill, the ostensible purpose of the measure is to afford more time for a thorough and fair deliberation on the pros and cons of the franchise renewal,” Lagman said.
However, the independent solon said “sufficient and reasonable time’ had already been accorded by the Lower House leadership.
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