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House approves hybrid Con-con on 2nd reading
by Delon Porcalla Philstar.com
MANILA — The House of Representatives approved on second reading a resolution allowing Charter amendments through the creation of a hybrid constitutional convention.
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Through voice vote, most of the members of the supermajority coalition approved the measure when presiding officer Rep. Raymond Mendoza of TUCP party-list asked for their votes.
The approval on third and final reading of Resolution of Both Houses 6 will only be a formality.
A separate bill was filed and is now pending in the House appropriations committee for tax purposes since Con-con delegates will receive remuneration for their skills.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, who sits as president of the opposition Liberal Party, initially called for the suspension of the plenary proceedings.
But he was opposed by his collagues, mostly from the administration bloc.
Rep. Lorenz Defensor of Iloilo also introduced amendments to the measure, removing the name of lawyer Alex Lacson from a group following his nonmembership and moved for the insertion of an important provision.
Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who chairs the House committee on constitutional amendments and sponsor of the measure, accepted Defensor’s insertion of economic amendments to the Constitution.
“That is our purpose: to amend the restrictive economic provisions of the Charter,”
Rodriguez said. Meanwhile, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said attempts to amend the Constitution would only distract the country from addressing urgent problems such as poverty and corruption.
“We should do away with this long-standing tale of makebelieve that Charter change will solve all our problems. That is not needed now,” Hontiveros said partly in Filipino.
She said the government and the people must face the reality that inflation, poverty and corruption are the pressing issues that need to be addressed with aggressive political will and focus.
The senator asked why there appears to be “a sense of urgency on Charter change when it is not among the issues felt by the people.”
“Filipinos are experiencing hardship, but Cha-cha is being prioritized when it cannot be eaten,” Hontiveros said.
“Putting Cha-cha front and center is just another major distraction and will only sideline urgent issues. The economy is worsening and the agricultural sector is laden with so much scandal. Redirecting large amounts of our limited resources to Charter change at this time will just do more damage,” she added.
She said she was glad that President Marcos has explicitly stated that amending the Constitution was not his priority.
The President’s allies in Congress should take heed, Hontiveros said.
Sen. Nancy Binay said she respects the prerogative of Sen. Robinhood Padilla, who chairs the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, to push for Cha-cha.
Binay said if Padilla favors the easing of the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution, the landmark amendments to the Public Service Act, Foreign Investment Act and the Retail Trade Liberalization Act are sufficient to attract investments. She said more effort should be put into improving and releasing the implementing rules and regulations of these laws instead “in the face of the many crises confronting us.”
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said Filipinos are “too preoccupied with daily living struggles” to give a thought to Cha-cha.
“Although we need constitutional changes to improve our system of government, this can wait as we should address first the basic daily living problems: where to get food to feed the family, the continued increase in prices, where to get a job, corruption, the high cost of living and even of dying, and many more basic problems,” Pimentel said.
Sen. Sonny Angara said he was open to amending the Constitution, but he was concerned over the proposal of the House of Representatives to do it through constitutional convention (con-con), whose members are to be elected.
He said the con-con is the most expensive and the most tedious mode of Charter change, adding the proposed P10,000 per day pay of each delegate was excessive.
Padilla said while he is heartened over the efforts in the House to amend the Constitution, he appealed anew to them to prioritize amending the economic provisions.
Several groups in the House of Representatives, led by the Party-list Coalition Foundation Inc., have rejected Padilla’s call to abolish the party-list system.
Rep. France Castro of ACT Teachers acknowledged flaws in the Party-List System Law, but said the marginalized sector still needs representation.
“The party-list system should not be abolished. The law should be amended to ensure that only party-list groups from the marginalized sector are the ones who get registered and elected,” Castro said. (With reports from Paolo Romero)