(One more time for ‘Cha-cha’) House committee revives talks on Charter Change
Maricel V. Cruz Reporter
Manila Times
THE House of Representatives again has revived efforts to amend the 1987 Constitution.
The House Committee on Constitutional Amendments headed by Rep. Victor Ortega of La Union will begin today hearings on several resolutions and bills filed pertaining to reforms in the Charter by way of a Constitutional Convention or Con-con.
The committee’s discussion will focus on House Concurrent Resolutions 3, 6, and 7 authored respectively by Representatives Felix Alfelor of Camarines Sur, Edelmiro Amante of Agusan del Norte and Antonio Cuenco of Cebu calling for a Con-con to propose amendments to the Constitution and to provide for the election of delegates in November 2008 to coincide with barangay elections.
Charter Change or “Cha-cha” proponents acknowledged an “overwhelming clamor among the majority of our people” to tinker with the Constitution “to make it more receptive to the new millennium and the needs of the Filipino people,” according to Amante’s resolution.
“The best way to amend or revise the Constitution is through a Con-con to be composed of elected delegates who are nonpartisan to be elected directly by the people,” the resolution added.
Amante’s resolution also underscored that 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 convention.
House Bills 1752 and 1876 penned respectively by Representatives Raul Gonzales of Iloilo and Carmelo Lazatin of Pampanga also called for a Con-con, as well as for appropriating funds for that political exercise.
Gonzales and Lazatin’s measures proposed that the Con-con shall be comprised of one delegate representing each legislative district in the country.
“Unless otherwise extended by Congress, the Con-con delegates will be granted a term of not more than one year to amend the Constitution exclusive of the ratification process,” Gonzales said.
On the other hand, Resolution 56 calls for the adoption by the House of the proposed amendments to the Constitution that were submitted by the Constitutional Consultative Commission.
Through Executive Order 453, President Gloria Arroyo formed a 55-man Constitutional Consultative Commission that will draft amendments to the 1987 Constitution.
On December 15, 2005, the commission submitted a report on the proposed amendments to the Charter.
The author of House Resolution 56, Rep. Jose Solis of Sorsogon, said he believed that the adoption of the proposed Charter amendments by the commission “will lead a strong party system by making political parties effective agencies of representative and responsive government.”
Solis added that such move will strengthen the existing local government structures to ensure an effective delivery of basic social services as well as provide a “meaningful and genuine local autonomy to spur countrywide development.”
Meanwhile, House Bill 2479 filed by Rep. Roque Ablan Jr. of Ilocos Norte proposed a people’s initiative to amend the Charter, stressing the people’s participation in proposing the necessary amendments to the Charter.
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