Sweeping Cha-cha eyed

MANILA, Philippines - Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. believes that the incoming Duterte administration must consider sweeping Charter changes when the Constitution is amended to switch to a federal system of government.

“We need to look at the other parts of the Constitution that require change,” he said.

Belmonte said the planned constitutional convention or con-con  should not limit itself to the proposed shift to a federal system.

“Yes, it will open a Pandora’s box, but I’m confident that the con-con delegates will do some improvement, not a throwback,” he said.

Cha-cha should be done through a convention, not Congress sitting as a constituent assembly, since it would do a comprehensive review of the Constitution, Belmonte said.

He said one of his biggest regrets was the failure of Congress to approve his Cha-cha proposal to lift constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership of certain businesses.

“For some reason, it didn’t happen. I really regret that,” he said.

Belmonte said his proposal did not call for immediately lifting of restrictions but for authorizing Congress to consider relaxing or scrapping such limitations when needed.

“Remember that legislation requires presidential approval, so it’s not only Congress that would be involved but the president as well,” he said.

Belmonte said the president would have veto power over any congressional proposal to lift or relax a certain restriction.

As of now, the limitations are inflexible and cannot be changed except by amending the Constitution, he added.

Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, the preferred speaker of president-elect Rodrigo Duterte, said the next Congress would prioritize the shift to federalism either through a con-con or the legislature sitting as a constituent assembly.

He would prefer a faster and less expensive mode, he added.

The goal is to present the proposed amendments to the people for approval in a plebiscite to be held simultaneously with the mid-term elections in 2019.

Constitutional experts said a constituent assembly would be faster and definitely less expensive since the nation would not have to elect con-con delegates.

Congress could meet as a law-making body in the morning and as con-ass in the afternoon, from Monday through Friday, they added.

A constitutional convention would cost taxpayers at least P2 billion, the experts said.

Meanwhile,  Batangas governor-elect Hermilando Mandanas said a federal form of government would be in place after the Constitution is amended in six months if Duterte would have the political will to do it.

When he was a member of the House of Representatives in 2006, he introduced a   resolution on how the amendment can be legally introduced, he added.

Mandanas said the accepted manners of amending or revising the Constitution are through a constitutional convention, constituent assembly or people’s initiative.

“However, a fourth and more expeditious way of amending the Constitution is passing the proposed amendment following the same procedure that a bill is passed into law, but approved by 75 percent of both Houses of Congress, voting separately,” he said.

“This is provided for in the Rules of the House of Representatives.” 

Mandanas said a plebiscite is required to approve any amendment in the Constitution, except when introduced through the people’s initiative.

To introduce federalism, a resolution should be filed in Congress to amend the existing provision in the Constitution to enable Congress to create more autonomous regions to comprise the federal state, he added.

At present, only two autonomous regions are in the country – the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordillera Administrative Region.