Senator Robin Padilla submitted a petition on Wednesday requesting the Supreme Court to schedule oral arguments for his appeal questioning voting of the Congress on revisions to the 1987 Constitution.
Padilla heads the Senate Committee on constitutional amendments and code revisions.
“In order to clarify matters in the petition and emphasize certain legal points, petitioner respectfully asks this Honorable Court to set the case for oral arguments at a time and date most convenient to the Honorable Court,” Padilla said in his petition.
Padilla called on the High Court last Monday for a “authoritative declaration” on whether Congress should vote on revisions to the 1987 Constitution together or individually.
He pressed the Court to rule on constitutional issues concerning Sections 1 (1) and 3, Article XVII of the 1987 Constitution.
Section 1 (1) of Article XVII states that any addition or change to the 1987 Constitution may be passed by “the Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its Members.”
Whereas, Section 3 states: “The Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of all its Members, call a constitutional convention, or by a majority vote of all its Members, submit to the electorate the question of calling such a convention.”
Furthermore, the senator added that his request is “filed in good faith and is not intended to delay the proceedings of the case.”
Photo courtesy: The Manila Times