Pacquiao urges people to support Duterte’s Con-ass proposal

SENATOR Manny Pacquiao rallied the people on Monday to support President Rodrigo Duterte’s preferred mode of amending the 1987 Constitution, which is a constituent assembly (Con-ass).

“Ang gusto ni Presidente, Con-Ass, gusto nya Con-Ass. Kung anong makabubuti, sya naman ang parang padre de pamilya dito sa atin, sa bansa natin so kung ano yung naiisip nyang tama e suportahan natin,” Pacquiao said when asked if he would prefer the Con-Ass or a constitutional convention (Con-Con).

“Pag-aralan nating mabuti. Kailangan ang makinabang, ang makabenpiso e ang mga taumbayan ng ating bansa,” he said.

Asked if the voting in the Con-Ass, wherein members of Congress will sit down to amend the Constitution, should be done jointly or separately, Pacquiao said: “Depende siguro, pwedeng sama-sama na lang.”

But Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said the Senate’s interpretation of the law was that the two chambers of Congress should vote separately to any amendments to the Constitution.

“Separately kasi kung batas nga separately paano pa kaya yung Constitution. No law passes unless passed both separately, much more the Constitution,” Pimentel said in a separate interview.

READ: Pimentel confident Pinoys would change mind on Charter change 

Meanwhile, Senator Risa Hontiveros said her party, Akbayan, prefers Con-Con over the Con-Ass.

“My party Akbayan and I support opening conversations on federalism and the good that it can do for the country, but we also believe that constitutional amendments can be best done under a Constitutional Convention rather than a Constituent Assembly. This is a position we have held consistently, even before this administration,” Hontiveros said in a privilege speech.

“While the latter might ended be more cost-efficient, we believe there is a greater need to protect the sacrosanct process of amending the Charter from self-interest and perceptions of self-interest,” she said.

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