ANGELES CITY, Philippines—Congress’s plans to convene a Constituent assembly (Con-ass) may not succeed this year so the people need to vote wisely in case it is pursued after the 2010 elections, a constitutional law expert said here on Saturday.

Fr. Joaquin Bernas, one of the country’s leading constitutionalists and a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, urged Catholic lay leaders in Pampanga to campaign for the rejection of candidates who support Con-ass.

“In practical terms, I don’t think Con-ass can be done before the elections. I’m more worried about the coming elections,” Bernas said in a forum organized by the Council of the Laity of the Archdiocese of San Fernando.

Congress, he said, cannot muster the required 220 votes to proceed with its plan to amend the Charter.

It is also to be expected that debates on the correct process of amending the Charter—whether through Con-ass, a people’s initiative and referendum, or a constitutional convention—would move slowly.

Bernas, dean emeritus of the Ateneo College of Law and an Inquirer columnist, said it was therefore important to elect the right leaders in 2010 “because the people cannot control what changes the next members of Congress will introduce.”

Con-ass, he said, should be made an electoral issue in the sense that “candidates should be made to answer if they support that mode in revising the Charter.”

“[We should] focus on the election, study the candidates, vote wisely [and] guard the votes,” he told reporters after the forum.

The crux of the present Con-ass debate is whether the two chambers of Congress should vote jointly or separately on proposed constitutional amendments.

House Resolution No. 1109, which was recently passed by Congress, call for the convening of a Con-ass as a joint session of the House and the Senate. This would mean that House members, by their sheer number, could carry out any proposed amendments.

Senators rejected the resolution,insisting that the voting on any issue or amendment must be done separately.

Bernas supported the Senate position, saying that the Constitution did not use the phrase “joint session” in its Con-ass option for amending the Constitution.

The practice is that the Senate and the House debate and vote separately on issues, he said.

The Supreme Court has not ruled on the issue, saying that it was not yet time to act on HR No. 1109 since Congress had not actually introduced changes to the Charter.

The reactions generated by HR 1109 are “a warning that [legislators] better consider what the people are thinking,” Bernas said.