Comelec needs P3.8B...

PAGE 8 committee chairman, said “what is envisioned here is that there will be nominations from different sectors and then the nominations will be submitted to the speaker and submitted also to the Senate president, so that then each one of them will consider the nominations and then they will have to meet and be able to have” a joint approval “on whom both of them will appoint.”

The delegates will serve from Nov. 21, 2023, to June

30, 2024.

The convention will be held in the House session hall. It must submit its report to Congress and the Comelec within 30 days from completion of the consolidated amendments, or July 30, 2024.

The amendments to the Constitution proposed by the convention must be ratified by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite to be held within 90 days after the submission of the convention report. (ManilaTimes.net) n

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 longstanding tale of make-believe 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 (concon), 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) n