Bagong Pilipinas , Bagong Konstitusyon: House eyes Cha-cha in 2024

The House of Representatives will revive efforts to amend the 1987 Constitution next year, Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. of Pampanga said Tuesday.

Gonzales' announcement comes a day after Speaker Martin Romualdez said there was a need to settle the impasse on how the bicameral Congress, composed of the House and the Senate, should vote on 1987 Constitution amendments: jointly or separately.

“We will try to pursue it by next year, on the resumption of the Third Regular Session. We will tackle [proposed] amendments to the 1987 Constitution,” Gonzales told reporters.

“Bagong Konstitusyon ng Bagong Pillipinas. Paano ka magtatrabaho kung Bagong Pilipinas pero luma iyong ating Konstitusyon? That’s our objective. Our objective is Bagong Konstitusyon ng Bagong Pilipinas,” responded Gonzales, whose proposal included extending the terms of public officials such as himself, when asked about concerns over the extension.

(How can you work under a new Philippines when you have an old constitution?)

In March, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 6, which calls for a constitutional convention (con-con) to amend the 1987 Constitution.

RBH No. 6 states that a con-con with elected delegates would draft the new constitution - “the most transparent, exhaustive, democratic, and least divisive means of implementing constitutional reforms.”

Under the 1987 Constitution, any amendment to or revision of the Constitution may be proposed by:

• the Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its Members (constituent assembly)
• a constitutional convention during which Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of all its members, call a constitutional convention, or by a majority vote of all its members, submit to the electorate the question of calling such a convention, and
• a people’s initiative upon a petition of at least 12% of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least 3% of the registered voters therein.

Gonzales filed a bill seeking to amend the 1987 Constitution via constituent assembly but said Tuesday that the people's initiative mode provided by the Constitution was likely to gain ground given that that the Constitution had no explicit provision on whether the bicameral Congress should vote separately or jointly in a constituent assembly setup.

“If we have 256 districts, if we are able to get 35% of the registered voters [to vote for constitutional change, then I think it will gain ground,” Gonzales said.

“If we go for PI (people’s initiative), that would be the people’s call, so I would say the Senators would eventually cooperate with our charter change initiative,” Gonzales added.

Charter change initiatives in the Senate had yet to gain ground, even if the House’s RBH 6 only covered amendments on the economic provisions, particularly the 40% limit on foreign ownership on vital industries, including public utilities.

“We have proposed economic provisions, but it did not move, so we have the people’s initiative, and we will start, I think, early next year. That would be easy. You will just ask the voters if they are in favor of constitutional amendment or not?” Gonzales added. — DVM, GMA Integrated News