RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Feb 20 2023 05:49 PM
A panel of the House of Representatives (HOR) on Monday approved a proposed resolution by both houses of Congress calling for a constitutional convention to amend the 1987 Constitution.
This was after a majority vote among members of the HOR Committee on Constitutional Amendments on the proposal, where 16 members voted in the affirmative, 3 in the negative, and 1 abstention.
The joint Senate-HOR resolution proposed that election of delegates to the convention would be scheduled on Oct. 30, coinciding with the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls.
“Extensive studies show that particular economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution need to be revisited and recrafted so that the Philippines may become globally competitive and attuned with the changing times,” the resolution read.
“Such constitutional reform has been identified by reputable business and economic groups as one of the key policy instruments that needs to be implemented, and is now long overdue, it added.
But the Makabayan bloc voted against the measure.
“Current and urgent problems that we are facing – escalating prices, low wages, massive hunger, joblessness, landlessness – do not stem from the 1987 Constitution. Hence, amending the Constitution will not magically cure these problems,” Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas said.
The same committee had also claimed that there was public support to amend the Constitution based on its own public consultations in Metro Manila, Cagayan de Oro City, Iloilo City, Pampanga, and Bulacan.
Committee chair Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said 91 percent of the reactors outside Metro Manila were in favor of charter change, 71 percent wanted economic amendments, while 43 percent were in favor of a constitutional convention.
The results of the public consultation were contrary to a 2018 Pulse Asia survey that showed a majority of respondents opposing charter change.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had earlier said he was not keen on the idea of amending the Constitution.
“It is not a priority for me, because maraming ibang kailangan gawin eh. There are so many other things that we need to do first, that we can still do, we can achieve, kung makuha natin ang gusto natin but within the present constitutional, the way the constitution is written,” Marcos told reporters earlier in February after his working visit to Japan.
HYBRID CON-CON
Meanwhile, retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno renewed his call for a hybrid constitutional convention of elected and appointed members.
Puno, who had led a consultative committee to amend the Constitution during the Duterte administration, pitched the idea anew during the public hearing of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments Monday.
“The best way to amend or revise the constitution is through a constitutional convention. But I am not suggesting the traditional constitutional convention where all the members are elected by the people. Given the seeming deterioration of our political processes, there is the lurking danger that the elected delegates to a constitutional convention and pardon me for saying it will just be proxies or factotum of political dynasties and economic oligarchs,” Puno said.
He noted that this hybrid model has been used in other countries with no serious constitutional issues raised against it.
Among the possible amendments he also pitched were institutionalizing the federal powers given to the Bangasamoro regional government, as well as including safeguard measures on relaxing the Constitution’s economic restrictions.
“Our eyeballs now see how economic power has been weaponized to take control of gullible countries. Perhaps this safeguard that we are proposing can prevent the commission of treason against our national security and may prevent the sell out of our national interest.” Puno said.
Source: https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/20/23/house-panel-oks-joint-resolution-calling-for-con-con