No major rewriting of Charter, Drilon assures

Senator Franklin Drilon, an ally of President Benigno Aquino III, said he was pushing for Charter change this time on the condition that the document “is not opened wide for a major rewriting.”

In the “Position Paper on Amending the Constitution” that he submitted formally to the Senate President and Speaker at a legislative summit in a Mandaluyong City hotel Thursday, Drilon said only specific amendments could be introduced one at a time.

In addition, Drilon proposed that the nod of three-fourths of the membership of both the Senate and House of Representatives, voting separately, on third reading be required before the amendment of a specific provision could take effect.

“Instead of Congress sitting in joint session, the method I am proposing would in effect call for a bicameral constituent assembly, each House taking cognizance of and deliberating on each and every proposed amendment filed in their respective chambers,” the senator said.

Drilon pointed out that the bicameral assembly would preserve the system of  check and balance between the two chambers and “is in keeping with the bicameral nature of the Congress as prescribed in the Constitution.”

Bicameral committee

“Should there be differences in the versions passed by the two chambers, then a bicameral committee is formed to come out with a reconciled version, after which the same is voted again by each chamber by a three-fourths vote of all its members,” Drilon said.

He said the proposed amendments would be submitted to a plebiscite for ratification by the people.

Drilon said there was nothing irregular in convening Congress into a bicameral assembly.

“My position is that  Congress can propose amendments to the Constitution using the regular lawmaking procedure; but in so doing, it is exercising not its legislative power but its constituent power vested to it by the Constitution,” he said.

In a text message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the senator said: “For years, I have studied and advocated this process.”

Arroyo’s another agenda

“Except that I did not push it during (former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s) time, as she and (the) Lakas (party) had another agenda.”

Past initiatives to convene a constituent assembly were shot down because of fears that personal interests would get the better of legislators voting on crucial constitutional issues.

A people’s initiative, another mode of amending the Constitution, in which signatures of 5 percent of the voters of each congressional district are required to effect a specific amendment, also failed to take off.

In 1997, the Supreme Court shot down a petition of Pirma (People’s Initiative for Reform Modernization and Action) calling for a shift to a parliamentary system of government and the lifting of term limits on elected officials.

The opposition charged then President Fidel Ramos of being behind the campaign.

During the time of former President Joseph Estrada, the Constitutional Correction for Development (Concord) launched another signature drive, this time to amend “restrictive” economic provisions that allegedly discouraged foreign investments. This too, did not succeed.

Consultative Commission

His successor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, created a Consultative Commission led by Dr. Jose Abueva that recommended a unicameral parliamentary form of government, decentralization of the national government and more powers to local government units.

A people’s initiative called Sigaw ng Bayan was also launched during Arroyo’s time. It was led by lawyer Raul Lambino, who is now her current spokesperson.

But the Supreme Court rejected Sigaw ng Bayan’s effort in October 2006, noting that it failed to comply with the basic requirements for conducting a people’s initiative.

Two months later, then Speaker Jose de Venecia began moves to convene the House into a constituent assembly but it was met with heavy opposition from a broad section of society, including the Church.

In November 2008, then Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. drafted Senate Resolution No. 10 convening Congress into a constituent assembly to establish a federal system of government. It was backed by 16 senators but never took off.