AN OPPOSITION lawmaker on Friday accused the majority bloc in the House of installing what he described as a “fake” minority bloc in a bid to railroad the proposed federalism being pushed by the Duterte administration.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said putting up a friendly opposition in the Lower House was suspect after House leaders opted to revise the 1987 Constitution through a Constitutional Convention but later favored a Constituent Assembly.
“The order of the day is inordinate fast-tracking with the hegemony of super majorities assured,” Lagman said in a statement.
He was referring to Charter Change through Cha-Con-Ass that newly elected Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez disclosed Thursday as President Rodrigo Duterte had now favored Con-Ass over Con-Con, which they viewed as expensive and a waste of people’s money.
Lagman made his statement even as Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon said Friday his committee will give the highest priority to the proposed measure that will amend the 1987 Constitution.
“The proposed review of the 29-year-old Constitution will be the top priority of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes and laws which I chair,” Drilon said.
“We will take up all the proposed measures and resolutions calling for the review of the Constitution as soon as the organization of the Senate is finalized and completed.”
Drilon considers the revision of the Constitution “a delicate task” that needs the involvement of all stakeholders.
Lagman asked: “Why the obsession of controlling the House minority after forging a super majority? One of the principal reasons is out of the bag.”
He was referring to the Con-Ass method, which means the convening of the Senate and the House of Representatives into one body to propose amendments to the Constitution.
“Only one day after the selection of the majority’s ‘minority leader,’ the leadership of the majority coalition has opted to convert the Congress into a Constituent Assembly to propose amendments to the Constitution, like the shift from unitary/presidential to Federal/parliamentary, instead of the original plan to call for a Constitutional Convention to effect Charter Change,” Lagman said.
“The numerical ascendancy of the new administration’s allies in both the Senate and the House makes the Congress, acting as a Constituent Assembly, a convenient launching pad for federalism, more than the projected Constitutional Convention which may not be easy to control.”
Lagman is a staunch ally of Ifugao Rep. Teddy Brawner Baguilat who obtained the second highest number of votes next to Alvarez in the speakership race on Monday and who, based on tradition and precedents, should be the automatic House Minority Leader.
Baguilat lost his bid for the House Minority leadership to Quezon Rep. Danny Suarez, reportedly a favored opposition leader candidate of Alvarez.
Both Suarez and Alvarez denied having been in agreement to establish a “company union” in the House.
Alvarez said he did not have a hand in Suarez’s election as minority leader.