Puno: Federal system must improve checks and balances in gov’t

Regardless of the type of political system that it might recommend, the head of the Consultative Committee to Review the 1987 Constitution (Con-Com) has rallied his members to ensure that the proposed federal system would enhance and strengthen the prevailing checks and balances among the three branches of government.

Former Chief Justice Reynato Puno said on Monday that the body should be able to endorse a system that must regulate the “extreme exercise” of checking power granted to the executive, legislative, and judiciary, as it often leads to gridlocks that hamper the country’s development.

“Complimentary to this design is the need to strike a new balance of power between and among the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary in our federal government,” Puno said in his opening speech at the first en banc session of the Con-Com at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City.

“There ought to be moderation on the extreme exercise of the checking power by each branch of government that often results in deadlocks, which when prolonged petrifies the progress of the people.”

“On certain issues of primordial importance to the political, economic, and social interest of our people, the three departments of our government must speak with one voice,” he also noted.

Puno emphasized that the three branches of government should “speak with one voice” on key political, economic, and social issues affecting the people because, “In times of crises, more than [one] voice is noise.”

Puno earlier admitted that the most contentious issue that the Con-Com may face is the distribution of powers between the three branches of government.    /kga