Duterte issues EO creating body to review Constitution
President Rodrigo Duterte has issued an executive order creating a 25-man “consultative committee” that will review the 1987 Constitution, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said on Thursday.
Medialdea said the EO was issued by the President Tuesday and would be released to the public this Thursday.
The official mentioned the President’s order during the first hearing of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes jointly with the committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation on various proposals to amend or revise the Constitution.
“As to the provisions of the Constitution that may be amended, we’d like to invite the attention of the committee that the President has issued the other day an executive order creating the committee for consultative study of the Constitution,” he said.
“Basically it’s a consultative committee to review the 1987 Constitution to be composed of 25 selected individuals whose names will be later on submitted.”
Medialdea reiterated the President’s position that there is a need to either amend or revise the Constitution, particularly his desire to shift from the present presidential to a federal form of government.
He also reiterated Duterte’s preference that proposed amendments or revisions should be done through a Constituent Assembly, “citing efficiency, costs, and credibility of results.”
“And as to the matter of voting… he believes that both houses should vote separately but we’d require further legal study to determine the intent of the framers of the Constitution,” Medialdea said./rga
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