ILOILO City – Can the House of Representatives’ committee on constitutional amendments convene itself into a constituent assembly without a concurrent resolution passed separately by the Senate and the House?
It cannot, stressed Ilonggo Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon.
Doing so, according to the senator, sets a dangerous precedent.
“I’ve seen this before. I think Rep. (Alfredo) Garbin (Jr.) is laying the basis to claim that the House alone, without the Senate, can propose amendments to the Constitution. That would be unconstitutional,” Drilon said.
Garbin of Ako Bicol party-list is the newly installed chair of the House committee on constitutional amendments. He said his committee can supposedly be treated as a Constituent Assembly – one of the three modes allowed to amend the 1987 Constitution – because they are exercising their power to propose amendments to the charter.
“They are trying to set the stage that will make it easier to amend the Constitution. We will oppose that. We are a bicameral Congress and we must act separately,” said Drilon.
By saying that the committee itself, by convening to tackle amendments to the Constitution, is acting as a constituent assembly is misleading, he stressed.
“You cannot fulfill the requirement of the Constitution without the Senate,” said Drilon.
Article XVII, Section 1 of the Constitution directs that “any amendment to, or revision of, (the) Constitution may be proposed by the Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members; or a constitutional convention.”
The former Justice secretary said the Constitution is clear that amendments to or revision of the Constitution requires a vote of three-fourths of all of the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, voting separately.
So that the House and the Senate can propose amendments to the Constitution, Congress, with the two houses voting separately, must first convert itself through a resolution into a constituent assembly, Drilon explained.
“Without that authority, without Congress authorizing itself to convert into a constituent assembly, then Rep. Garbin’s declaration that his committee is already convened into a con-ass is invalid,” Drilon said.
By no stretch of the imagination, he added, can one committee of one chamber of Congress be the constituent assembly envisioned by the Constitution.
“The Constitution is clear – amendments or revisions may be proposed by Congress upon a three-fourths vote of all its members. The body chaired by Cong. Garbin is a mere committee and is clearly not a constituent assembly. To subscribe to a different interpretation is to contravene the Constitution,” Drilon said.
Absent that resolution of both Houses, Drilon emphasized, the proceedings in the House committee cannot assume the functions and powers of a constituent assembly.
The minority leader said that such a declaration by a House panel showed how far the supermajority in the House of Representatives would go to railroad Charter change (Cha-cha).
“They hijacked the powers of a constituent assembly. They bypassed the plenary powers of Congress. They basically hijacked the Senate,” Drilon said in a statement.
“They are testing the waters. I see a sinister agenda behind this baseless assertion,” Drilon said. “Aba, round one pa lang nagkakadayaan na. How can we even trust them?”
He called on his colleagues in the Senate and the public to be critical and vigilant about these fresh attempts for a Charter change./PN
