The House of Representatives on Monday opened its plenary debates on the proposed federal Constitution being pushed by the Duterte administration.
Reps. Vicente Veloso of Leyte and Corazon Nuñez-Malanyaon of Davao Oriental, chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the House’s constitutional amendments committee, delivered their respective sponsorship speeches to the draft Constitution as contained in a resolution of both Houses of Congress in Committee Report 88.
They delivered their speeches even as the spokesman for the Malacañang-backed group that studied and proposed a federal Constitution believes a House committee's version could be “even worse” than the 1935 Constitution and “very difficult to sell to the public.”
Conrado Generoso of President Rodrigo Duterte's Consultative Committee on Monday expressed reservation about the draft Charter, introduced by Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, which lacks term limits for lawmakers and an anti-political dynasty provision.
“You remove the anti-dynasty provision, you remove the term limits”•this could be even worse than the 1935 Constitution,” Generoso told ANC.
Nuñez-Malanyaon stressed the need for Congress to introduce a "retrofitting" of the 1987 Constitution.
Veloso, a former Court of Appeals associate justice, echoed the sentiment stressed in the committee report that “many provisions of the 1987 Constitution have already served, if not outlived, their purpose, hence the sustained clamor over the years for amendments to or revision of the Constitution finds justification in the need to provide, among other much-needed socioeconomic reforms, a long-term solution to the decades-old conflict in Mindanao and regional economic development in the countryside.”
The current composition of both Houses of Congress is reflective of the varied interests that their constituencies represent, so that whenever they propose amendments to or a revision of the Constitution, they already have the necessary background and corresponding insights on how to effectively introduce them accordingly,” Committee Report 88 said.
The plenary discussions on the measure for the day was cut short after senior deputy minority leader and Buhay Party-list Rep. Jose Atienza questioned the quorum, saying the House was tackling the proposed revision of the Constitution without having it listed in the House's Order of Business or agenda for the day.
“It is not right to begin tackling changes to the Constitution in that way. First of all, it’s not even in the agenda today,” Atienza said.
This developed as Arroyo said nothing was final yet on the draft federal Constitution adopted by the House constitutional amendments, which provides for the lifting of the term limits of legislators and local officials under the proposed federal Constitution.
Arroyo said it would be up to the congressmen and senators if they will push for such.
“It is really a collegial decision,” Arroyo told reporters when asked to comment on the House committee on constitutional amendments’ proposed draft federal Constitution, which does not have a provision setting the term limits of legislators.
Under the House’s draft Constitution, the President and vice president will be elected with each other to serve four-year terms, subject to one reelection.
Congressmen, who should be holders of college degrees, will also serve four-year terms.
The draft federal Charter also provides that the first election under the proposed Constitution will be held on the second Monday of May 2022.
