Nene Pimentel wants more senators in proposed US-style federal gov’t

Former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. wants additional seats for senators in his proposed federal-presidential system of government – which is similar to what the United States has.

Pimentel made the proposal during the en banc session of the Consultative Committee tasked by President Rodrigo Duterte to review the 1987 Constitution.

READ: Nene Pimentel proposes a presidential federal gov’t

The federal-presidential system, according to Pimentel, would follow the current general setup of the national government – headed by a president and vice president, and with executive, legislative and judiciary departments.

But apart from this, the country would also have federal states with their own federal legislature and local governments.

The federal Congress, he added, would still have two Houses – the Senate and the House of Representatives.

But Pimentel pointed out that every state should be represented by six elected senators, and another six from Metro Manila and nine overseas senators or a total of 87 elected senators.

“The 24 senatorial limit was based on a Philippine population of 20 million or so. Now we are more than 104 million people,” Pimentel said. “The increase in the number of senators and of the members of the House may be justified by the rise in our population.”

Each federal state, meanwhile, would elect a governor and a vice governor. Its federal state legislature would be composed of representatives from provinces, highly urbanized cities, and sectoral groups.

The local governments – provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays – would have the same structure.

The Consultative Committee is expected to present after six months its proposals to the president, who will then submit it to the Congress.

Congress may either affirm or dismiss the recommendations. /atm