IBP thumbs down Charter change thru Con-Ass

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BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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January 23, 2018
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MANILA – The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) prefers a “more circumspect” Constitutional Convention over “an overweening” Constituent Assembly in revising the 1987 Constitution.

The House of Representatives appears in a hurry to convene a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) and is pushing that congressmen and senators vote jointly to change the Constitution. The Senate, however, is insisting on separate voting on Charter change (Cha-cha).

According to IBP national president Abdiel Dan Elijah Fajardo, the Senate and the House of Representatives should vote separately on Charter change “in keeping with the deliberative nature of our bilateral legislative body.”

While Fajardo acknowledged the constitutional ambiguity on the process of changing the Constitution, he stressed the “intent behind bicameralism continues to be check and balance between the two houses of Congress, so designed for the enactment of better laws.”

President Rodrigo Duterte is pushing to change the Charter to make way for a federal form of government.

Under the 1987 Constitution, Con-Ass is one of three ways to amend the basic law of the land. Under this scheme, a three-fourths vote of Congress is needed to make final proposals, then these should be subjected to a plebiscite.

The Constitution is unclear on whether Con-Ass requires joint or separate deliberations on voting by the Senate and the House of Representatives. However, during a Senate hearing on Jan. 17, resource persons said voting should be separate to reflect the current bicameral set-up.

The resource persons included the framers of the 1987 Constitution and former chief justices of the Supreme Court, among other legal luminaries./PN
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