Con-con expensive, says ad-com

Amending the 1987 Constitution by way of a constitutional convention (con-con) would not only be expensive but impractical and risky in a "politically volatile ground" like the Philippines, the Charter Change Advocacy Commission (ad-com) said yesterday.

"We in ad-com believe that con-con is a slow and expensive process. The people cannot wait forever. That is why they want change now," ad-com chairman Lito Monico Lorenzana said.

"The idea of calling one (con-con) is noble, but it is the most impractical mode since it is like creating a fourth branch of government," he added.

According to Lorenzana, once delegates from each legislative district are elected and the con-con is convened, it is like having a second House of Representatives operating on a hefty multi-billion peso budget.

"Aside from being an expensive sovereign exercise, con-con does not have a periodic clause. It will exist until such time a new Charter has been finally drafted. Only God knows when," he noted.

Lorenzana recalled that during the 1971 constitutional convention, it took six months just for the delegates to debate on the preamble alone.

"Only when (former President Ferdinand) Marcos declared martial law that the con-con was forced to wrap up. Otherwise, it could have taken them forever before a new Constitution was presented to the people for plebiscite," he said.

Lorenzana earlier said the ad-com is supporting the people’s initiative mode of amending the Charter, which is being pushed by the Sigaw ng Bayan movement.

Ad-com is urging critics of the people’s initiative, particularly the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to reconsider their stand against it.

"We are appealing to those who are calling for con-con to evaluate the pros and cons. Let’s debate first on why we need to change the constitution, and why con-con is not a viable alternative given the urgency of the problems that face the country," Lorenzana said.

In pushing for a parliamentary form of government, the ad-com said this could help put in place an efficient civil service system, similar to that implemented at private corporations.

"Although the Civil Service Commission has aggressively embarked on ways to rationalize the civil service, the greatest problem that confronts government service is red tape," said ad-com commissioner Ronald Adamat.

Adamat said a bureaucracy free of red tape would attract the best corporate minds to work for the government.

"The Philippines will have the efficiency and discipline of Britain and Germany if it decides to adopt a parliamentary system since the current bicameral-presidential setup exposes the intrinsic weakness and inadequacy in civil service," he said.

Under the present presidential-unitary form of government, politicians have a "bad habit" of appointing incompetent people to the bureaucracy as political accommodation.

"We have to professionalize the government. And to maintain the integrity of the bureaucracy, civil servants must get out of their comfort zones and cultivate the culture of discipline and service," Adamat said.

For his part, Lorenzana cited that in advanced countries, a competent and highly efficient civil service serves as the bedrock of a progressive government.

"That is why there is a need to strengthen the institution and professionalize the service," Lorenzana said.

The ad-com has started discussions with officers and employees of various government offices on the need to amend the 1987 Constitution.

Employees from government owned and controlled corporations also participated in the discussions, saying they could be "agents of constitutional change."

As members of the bureaucracy, they "know the system very well" and could serve as agents of constitutional change by helping the ad-com disseminate information on Charter change.

For the education sector, the ad-com held yesterday a briefing on Charter change before officials and employees of the Department of Education and some 221 school superintendents from all over the country at the DepEd central office in Pasig City.

In a letter to DepEd officer-in-charge Undersecretary Fe Hidalgo, Lorenzana said his group began holding a series of briefings last June 19.

He said this is part of the ongoing advocacy forums being conducted in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao with local government units, the business sector, academe, youth and other sectoral groups.

Don’t ignore signatures, CBCP urged

Malacañang and local government officials, meanwhile, urged yesterday the CBCP not to ignore the 10 million signatures gathered nationwide supporting the shift to a unicameral parliamentary system.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye and presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor also maintained that the Arroyo administration has been transparent in its campaign to amend the Charter that has been ongoing the last few years.

Proponents of the people’s initiative, including the Sigaw ng Bayan movement and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), last week said they are set to file a petition before the Commission on Elections soon to call for a plebiscite after they have gathered more than 10 million signatures nationwide.

In a press conference at Malacañang after attending a joint Cabinet-Regional Development Council meeting, local government officials said the people’s initiative is one of the most democratic and transparent means to amend the Constitution.

ULAP president and Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado said he and ULAP vice president Iloilo Mayor Jerry Treñas last May met with CBCP president Archbishop Angel Lagdameo to explain why a people’s initiative is preferable over the constitutional convention in amending the Constitution.

Bunye noted the President herself pushed for a transparent and nationwide discussion on constitutional reforms when she called for the "great debate" on Charter change to begin during her State of the Nation Address in July last year. — With Sandy Araneta, Paolo Romero