Palace: GMA will abide by con-com recommendations

President Arroyo will abide by recommendations of the 55-man presidential consultative commission (con-com) which is expected to submit its proposals this week after three months of nationwide consultations, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said yesterday.

While the con-com was created by the President last September through Executive Order No. 459, Ermita stressed its members are independent-minded and experts in their respective fields and careers.

"Of course the President will have to go along (with the con-com) while seeing if the amendments that she is pushing for are included in their recommendations," he said.Ermita stressed there is no reason for the President not to endorse the recommendations of the con-com to Congress.

The President has tasked the con-com to help Congress introduce the necessary amendments in the 1987 Constitution.

Mrs. Arroyo will present con-com’s recommendations before Congress to start up deliberations in overhauling the country’s political and economic system.

While the House of Representatives has long been deliberating on the proposed shift and other Charter amendments, Malacañang said the con-com’s work is vital and complementary since their inputs are based on nationwide consultations.

The con-com is expected to submit its final report on Thursday. Ermita said Mrs. Arroyo is continuously updated on the work of the con-com through the Presidential Management Staff, which acts as the body’s secretariat. He said the President was assured last week by con-com chairman Jose Abueva that the panel would be able to finish its work on time.

Abueva also informed Malacañang that the commission is wrapping up deliberations on the proposed amendments on the form of government, national patrimony and economy, and the transitory provisions which would be held starting today until Wednesday.

A simple turnover ceremony has been arranged for the submission of the draft Constitution from the con-com to Mrs. Arroyo, Ermita said.

Ermita reiterated the President’s desire to hold a plebiscite for the approval of the draft Constitution early next year and holding of parliamentary elections in 2007.He said the fate of the President’s six-year term and other elective officials whose term ends in 2010 would depend on the transitory provisions to be proposed by the con-com and their approval by Congress.There are many options being explored, Ermita added, including the proposal for senators to become automatic members of the new parliament."It’s going to be a mixture of options but the final word would come from Congress and ultimately from the people in a referendum," Ermita said.

A matter of choice

With the expected approval of the proposal to shift to a federal parliamentary form of government, the con-com has drafted the guidelines that will pave the way for the creation of the country’s federal states.

Con-com secretary general Lito Monico Lorenzana said commissioners who had earlier been opposed to federalism are now supporting the proposal after being assured that provinces and highly urbanized cities will not be forced to join the proposed Federal Republic of the Philippines.

Lorenzana said the commissioners have agreed that the creation of the proposed federal republic should be done through people’s initiative undertaken by the local government units concerned.

Residents of a particular province or highly urbanized city will be given a choice whether they want their place to become autonomous.

If it is determined that two-thirds of the total number of the country’s provinces and highly urbanized cities have opted to become autonomous territories, then the Federal Republic of the Philippines will be created, Lorenzana said.

"It will have to come from the grassroots level. The decision to federate has to be made by self determination and must not be imposed by government," he said.

For a federal system to occur, it is necessary that interested provinces or cities should decide for themselves to become autonomous territories, Lorenzana stressed.

He said the autonomous territory status will be granted by Parliament through an organic act that will ratified by residents of the territories concerned in a plebiscite.

Should the total number of provinces and highly urbanized cities who voted to become autonomous territories fail to get the needed two-thirds vote, the republic will retain its unitary structure with some autonomous territories, Lorenzana explained.

Lorenzana said converting the country’s political structure from unitary to federal may prove to be difficult.

This is the reason why con-com commissioners decided against adopting the 10-year window proposal for federation, Lorenzana said.

"There is no more 10-year period for federation. We will let the people decide. The decision should come from them and not imposed from the top," he said.

Some commissioners earlier expressed apprehension on the proposed federation and urged to retain the unitary structure with a central government.

They cited the unequal economic development between provinces as among the reasons.

After much debate, con-com commissioners in plenary will cast their votes today on the proposed shift to a federal structure for the country.

For his part, STAR columnist and con-com commissioner Jarius Bondoc expressed his strong belief that a majority of Filipinos will favor a federal structure of government.

"There is now a movement out there for federalism," Bondoc said. "The presence of imperial Manila is palpable to everybody."

Bondoc adds those who have strongly opposed federalism now realize the benefits of greater local autonomy.

"The bottom line now here is that we (commissioners) all want greater local autonomy," he said.

Commissioner Ray Magno Teves, the principal sponsor of federalism, told reporters that the Commission has decided to retain the committee report proposing federalism with some amendments.

"We have outlined the processes and concepts that will eventually pave the way for federalism. We will now just flesh these out based on the specific amendments proposed," he said.

Based on the results of their public consultations, there were key areas in the country which have opposed the proposal for a federal structure of government. Among these were Zamboanga City and Mindoro.

The commission earlier adopted the proposal to change the present presidential type of government to parliamentary with a unicameral parliament. The commission also decided to introduce amendments that would do away with "protectionist" provisions in the Constitution to liberalize foreign investments in the country.

Con-com delegate Joji Ilagan-Bian said the commission will be submitting its recommendations before Mrs. Arroyo on the deadline.

"We are confident we will be able to meet the December 15 deadline. Right now, we are incorporating results of the national regional consultations we made," Bian told The STAR in Davao City yesterday.

Bian said the results of the consultations will be included in the recommendations they will formally submit to Mrs. Arroyo.

"The results indicated the voice of the majority of the people," Bian said. — With Mike Frialde, Edith Regalado