SPEAKER Pantaleon D. Alvarez has said the Office of the President is now reviewing the draft of an executive order (EO) creating the Constitutional Commission (Con-com).
Alvarez said creating a Con-com will help Congress, acting as constituent assembly (Con-ass), in amending the present Constitution to change the present unitary form of government to a federal system.
During Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa) membership meeting last Tuesday, the speaker said he has sent to Malacañang for President Duterte’s approval his proposed executive order creating a 25-man Constitutional Commission.
“This [Tuesday] afternoon, I forwarded the draft of the executive order to the Office of the President creating the Constitutional Commission,” Alvarez added.
He said he hopes Duterte will sign the EO immediately and appoint members of the Con-com.
“[After the appointment of members], the Constitutional Commission will start their work to draft the revised Charter and perhaps in six months, we also—if we are able to finish the 2017 national budget—we can already convene both houses of Congress into a constituent assembly, where the draft will be presented by the members of the Constitutional Commission for further deliberations and debate,” Alvarez said.
He added that, if Congress, acting as constituent assembly, can complete the final revised Constitution by next year, the task of educating and informing the people on the revised draft can be done by 2018 in preparation for its submission for ratification synchronized with the midterm elections in 2019.
“The remaining three years of the Duterte administration—if it [the new constitution] will be approved by the people—will be a transitory government. So, by 2022, we will be electing our new officials under the new Charter,” Alvarez said.
He said the Con-com—composed of experts in their respective fields, like former Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno and Justice Manuel Lazaro—would provide the necessary technical assistance to the Con-ass.
While similar efforts to amend the charter in the past, through a Con-ass bogged down on the issue of voting separately or jointly by the Senate and the House of Representatives, Alvarez said there are ways to forge a consensus between the two houses of Congress.
“I always trust the patriotism of senators and congressmen. We can navigate that. I’m quite positive on that,” Alvarez said, adding that if the majority of the people really want to change the Charter, the lawmakers will heed the public clamor.
Alvarez said a federal system of government will address the country’s problems brought about by the highly centralized, unitary form of government imposed by colonizers.