The consultative committee tasked with proposing amendments to the 1987 Constitution will finalize on Monday the federal government structure it plans to submit before President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) in July.
Former Supreme Court Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura, head of the subcommittee on the federal government structure, said the proposals included changes in the election and tenure of the President and Vice President.
Same ticket
Nachura said the subcommittee of the panel headed by retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno would propose the election of the President and Vice President on the same ticket.
“Both candidates must belong to the same political party so that a vote for the President would be counted also as a vote for the Vice President,” he said.
The proposals also include the terms and composition of a bicameral Congress, as well as changes in the powers of the judiciary, he added.
Under the proposal, senators will be elected by regions or by constituent entities under a federal system, while 60 percent of seats in the House of Representatives will be elected by district. The remaining 40 percent of the seats will be distributed proportionally among political parties.
The Senate will retain its power to ratify treaties while the House will continue to initiate appropriation bills. However, the subcommittee will propose some changes in such powers.
Four-year terms
The President, Vice President, senators and representatives will have four-year terms, with reelection, Nachura said. The officials must have college degrees or their equivalent.
The former justice said the subcommittee was considering whether to strip the Commission on Elections of its power to screen presidential candidates and to rule on disqualification and election cases.
Such powers should be given to the courts, Nachura said, adding there were proposals to create a constitutional court, a high administrative court and an appellate Sharia court.