Majority Floor Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rudy Fariñas
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas on Tuesday said the lower chamber still has no timetable for the proposed Charter change (Cha-cha).
“Timetable is too far the table as such Draft has not even been officially transmitted to the HOR, if so,” he said on Tuesday in a message to reporters, referring to the draft federal Constitution submitted on Monday by the 22-member Consultative Committee (Con-com) to President Rodrigo Duterte.
READ: Duterte receives ‘pro-poor’ federal Constitution
DOWNLOAD: The complete final draft of the federal Constitution
On Monday, Senate President Vicente Sotto III also said the proposal is still not a priority in the upper chamber.
Sotto also said Con-com’s draft is still subject to the scrutiny of Congress.
READ: Charter change still not a priority of Senate — Sotto
The proposed amendment in the 1987 Constitution being pushed by Duterte’s allies in Congress, could pave the way to the country’s shift to a federal form of government.
Amending the Charter can be done either through a Constituent assembly (Con-ass), composed of sitting legislators, or through a Constitutional Convention (Con-con), composed of experts elected by the people in a plebiscite. /jpv