Senate opts for con-con for Cha-cha

Senators voted yesterday to call a constitutional convention to amend the 1987 Constitution that was drafted after the ouster of President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

Eight of the 14 members of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes and laws decided in favor of a constitutional convention as against a constituent assembly and a referendum.

Sen. Edgardo Angara, the committee’s chairman, said the eight senators were Juan Flavier, Loren Legarda, Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Teresa Aquino-Oreta, John Osmeña, Francis Pangilinan, Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Ramon Revilla.

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. was unfazed by the Senate vote.

De Venecia said he sees the "turning of the tide" in favor of amending the Constitution through a constituent assembly.

"We see a turning tide," he said. "The battle is only intensifying — and the Charter revision campaign is far from being defeated."

The vote ensures that a resolution calling for constitutional amendments will have to be debated extensively on the Senate floor, De Venecia added.

Senators Vicente Sotto III, Rodolfo Biazon and Manuel Villar voted to hold a referendum on the issue of amending the Constitution.

Sen. Robert Barbers favored House Resolution No. 16 seeking to convene Congress into a constituent assembly, while Sen. Joker Arroyo did not make known his position, he added.

Angara said one of the senators comprising his committee, who is abroad, had sent word that he favors calling a constitutional convention.

"The eight will possibly turn to nine, as one of the senators who is abroad, sent word that he favors a con-con through his chief of staff," he said.

Angara said he will prepare his committee’s report and submit it to the plenary when the third and last regular session if the 12th Congress opens.

He will ask the plenary to immediately pass a law to allow the people to elect the delegates to the constitutional convention, along with national and local officials in May next year, he added.

Angara said Congress would have to allocate P100 million for the constitutional convention, which could be inserted in next year’s national budget.

"It’s up to the Senate to take the matter to the floor, " he said.

However, Angara said he wants a constituent assembly to amend the Constitution because it would be faster at minimal cost.

"Theoretically, based on my experience in the 1971 Con-Con, it would not take three months to complete the amendments," he said.

De Venecia said last week Angara had assured him that at least five senators would vote in favor of a constituent assembly.

De Venecia and his Sunshine Coalition in the House of Representatives, backed by governors and city and municipal mayors, have been campaigning for Congress to be convened into a constituent assembly to introduce amendments to the Constitution.

Meanwhile, Pimentel said the adoption of a federal system of government must be the centerpiece of any constitutional change.

"The survey indicates that public support is building up for the shift to a federal system to replace the existing system where the powers of government are largely concentrated in the central government," he said. — With Paolo Romero