Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez (INQUIRER PHOTO)
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has said he has submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte his proposed draft of an executive order (EO) forming a constitutional commission (Con-com) that will help Congress craft a revised Charter.
In his keynote speech at the membership meeting of the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa) on Tuesday night, Alvarez said he submitted the draft to Malacañang that afternoon.
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“This afternoon I forwarded the draft of the executive order to the Office of the President creating the constitutional commission,” Alvarez said.
He said he hoped President Duterte would be able to sign the order by September and appoint the members of the Con-Com, so that it could start its work by October.
After the Con-com drafts a revised Charter in six months, Congress can convene into a constituent assembly.
“So by October the constitutional commission will start their work to draft the revised Charter and perhaps in six-month’s time we also, if we are able to finish the 2017 national budget, we can already convene both houses of Congress into a constituent assembly where the draft will be presented by the members of the constitutional commission for further deliberations and debate,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez said that upon receiving the draft Charter, the Congress acting as a constituent assembly may finish the revisions by 2017, a massive information dissemination may begin in 2018, and the ratification of the new Constitution may be synchronized with the midterm elections in 2019.
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He said the last three years of the Duterte administration from 2020 to 2022 may see a transition government so that when the President finishes his term, the Philippines would become a federal country.
Duterte had said he would be willing to step down from the presidency if the new transition government would require a new set of leaders.
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“The remaining three years of the Duterte administration—if it (the new Constitution) will be approved by the people—will be a transitory government. So, by 2022 we will be electing our new officials under the new Charter,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez had proposed that the commission be composed of experts on constitutional law: former Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno, former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., lawyer Reuben Canoy, dean of San Beda Law School Fr. Ranhilio Aquino, and representatives from nongovernment organizations, the academe, and other sectors of society.
He said he believed both Houses of Congress could resolve their differences whether or not they should vote separately or jointly in proposing amendments to the Constitution.
“I always trust the patriotism of the senators and congressmen. Kaya nating i-navigate iyan. I’m quite positive on that,” Alvarez said. IDL