MANILA, Philippines – Could it be the beginning of a ceasefire between the warring chambers of Congress?

The 100th birthday celebration of Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile in Malacañang Palace on Wednesday, February 14, brought together Senate President Migz Zubiri and House Speaker Martin Romualdez as the two chambers of Congress continue to be engaged in a word war over proposals to amend the Constitution.

Zubiri was upbeat about his brief meeting with Romualdez.

“Good news. Nag-usap kami ni Speaker kanina. Sabi po namin, let’s work professionally, itigil muna ang bangayan, and let’s continue to work for the benefit of the administration para sa ating mga kababayan. Hindi na maganda kung palagi po kaming nagbabangayan at magka-away,” Zubiri said.

(Good news. The Speaker and I were able to talk earlier. We said, let’s work professionally, let’s stop the word war, and let’s continue to work for the benefit of the countrymen. It’s not good to be always trading barbs and clashing.)

The Senate President said that a second meeting with Romualdez is being eyed for next week.

“So, we committed to talk to each other, hopefully, next week for a secondary meeting because our meeting earlier was short. We shook hands, and that’s our message on the day of the hearts. We had a good meeting with the speaker earlier, and we agreed to work together to pass legislation for our people, and we set aside differences,” Zubiri said partly in Filipino.

On February 6, senators floated the idea of bringing together Senate and House leaders for a dialogue to settle their differences. Zubiri had said that he was amenable to a meeting to end the bickering between the two chambers. (READ: Senators suggest dialogue to settle spat with House lawmakers)

End of word war?

When asked if the meeting would mean an end to the word war, Zubiri said that it would still depend on the other members of the House of Representatives.

“Kasi ‘di ba daily po ‘yung kanilang presscon [nila]? Kami naman wala naman kaming presscon daily (Don’t they have a daily presscon? On our part, we don’t have a daily presscon). According to most of our colleagues in the Senate, we’re willing to let bygones by bygones and let’s continue to work for our people,” he said.

The word war between Senate and House members was fueled by disagreements on the fresh push to pursue charter amendments. The House majority held two back-to-back press conferences last week to address concerns regarding charter change and the standoff between lawmakers from the two chambers.

Meanwhile, the Senate, through its committee on electoral reforms led by Senator Imee Marcos, conducted three hearings on the supposed people’s initiative to amend the charter that had been tainted with bribery allegations.

In one of the Senate hearings, the chief of the People’s Initiative for Reform Modernization and Action (PIRMA) named Romualdez as the person who “helped” the Ramos-era charter change group in the signature drive. PIRMA told senators that they were able to get the required 3% in congressional districts with the help of House members. – Rappler.com