The 22-member Consultative Committee, which was formed by President Rodrigo Duterte nearly five months ago, on Tuesday unanimously approved the final draft of the proposed Federal Constitution, allaying fears of a term extension for Duterte.
Former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel initially moved to approve the Con-Com’s proposed Federal Constitution that was unopposed.
Meanwhile, former Chief Justice Reynato Puno said Tuesday there was no timeline for a plebiscite on the draft Federal Constitution, noting that was for Congress to decide but the best time to hold it would be in May 2019.
“We have no timeline. It’s up to Congress to deliberate on this draft Constitution,” Puno said in a chance interview on the sidelines of the Consultative Committee’s en banc session to vote on the draft of the proposed Federal Constitution in Pasay City.
“It should be by the middle of next year or May 2019, so there will be time for the people to understand this new [Federal] Constitution,” Puno said.
Puno, chairman of President Rodrigo Duterte’s committee proposing a draft Constitution, also said Filipinos had “nothing to fear” about the country’s possible shift to a federal form of government.
Con-Com spokesman Ding Generoso said the Con-Com hoped to submit the final draft to the President on or before July 9 in time for Duterte’s State of the Nation Address on July 23.
He said the submission was a crucial step as Duterte is expected to endorse the Con-Com’s output to Congress, the body that will ratify a new constitution.
Congress is not bound to adopt the Con-Com’s final draft, but if it bears Duterte’s approval the document should have some impact on Congress, which is dominated by Duterte’s allies.
The shift to a federal form of government was one of the advocacies and promises of Duterte when he was campaigning for the presidency in May 2016.
The final draft mandates that there will be no term extension for Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo, allaying fears that a charter change would prolong their stay in power.
Based on the final draft, Duterte and Robredo’s term of office will end on June 30, 2022, and the transition to the new federal constitution also takes effect on this day. This means Duterte will be bound to the 1987 Constitution until the end of his term, a Constitution that allows no reelection or term extension for the President.
The heart of the proposed Federal Constitution involves the giving of more power to the regions to govern themselves instead of leaving such powers to the often distant central government in Metro Manila.
Under the final draft, the current 17 regions, plus a new Negrosanon region, will become federated regions that have the power over socioeconomic planning, land use, and financial administration and management, among others. The central government, called the federal government in the draft, will retain powers over national security and defense, international relations and diplomacy, customs and tariffs, federal crimes, and the justice system, among others.
Instead of the current 24 senators, there will be 36—two senators from each federated region.
There will also be 400 members of the House of Representatives instead of the current 297.
The draft also provides that the regions will be divided into districts, with each district electing one representative.
Of the total number of representatives, 40 percent or 160 representatives will come from proportional party representation. Of this, half or 80 of the seats will be reserved for representatives of the marginalized sectors. With PNA