Duterte pushes Con-ass

Pres Rodrigo Roa Duterte answer questions in an ambush interview with Malacañang press after a mass oath taking ceremony by PRRD’s apointees held in Malacañang Palace, August 1, 2016.   INQUIRER PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

PRESIDENT Duterte is pushing for Charter change (Cha-cha) through a constituent assembly (Con-ass) despite findings of a nationwide survey that Cha-cha supporters are  outnumbered by those opposing constitutional amendments.

In light of the Pulse Asia survey, however, several senators said public sentiment must be taken into account while efforts to spread awareness about moves to change the Constitution should be pursued.

In the Pulse Asia survey, 44 percent said the Constitution should not be amended, while 37 percent were in favor of amending it.  Nineteen percent were undecided.

The survey, conducted on July 2-8, covered 1,200 respondents and had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.

Asked what concerns should the Duterte administration address immediately, a mere

7 percent said amending the 1987 Constitution was a priority.

Even so, Mr. Duterte is pushing for a shift to a federal-parliamentary form of government from the current unitary-presidential form, which means changing the Constitution itself and not just amending specific provisions.

He favors a Con-ass, composed of members of Congress, over a constitutional convention (Con-con) because of the higher cost associated with the latter mode of changing the fundamental law of the land.

In a Con-con, delegates are elected by the electorate and given funds to carry out their work.

Contempt for Con-ass

Defending his preferred mode of introducing the changes to the Constitution,

Mr. Duterte on Monday said nobody could make sweeping generalizations about the competence of lawmakers, who would be proposing a new Constitution through a Con-ass.

He said he sensed “contempt” for the proposed Con-ass. But he said that even if several of the lawmakers were corrupt, this did not mean the same description would apply to all.

“You cannot make a sweeping statement that people cannot trust these guys to make a good Constitution, to craft a new one that would serve this generation because many of them had been elected time and again,” he said.

Many of the lawmakers have been serving the government for decades and have been chosen by the people probably because they are good, according to the President.