A week after President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. declared Charter change (Cha-cha) as not being a priority, a panel in the House of Representatives decided Monday, Feb. 20 that it would go the Constitutional convention (con-con) route should the measures to amend the 1987 Charter prosper.
Upheld by the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments following a vote on Monday afternoon was a committee report favoring the use of a con-con in connection with resolutions seeking a Cha-cha.
Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, panel chairman, said 16 solons voted "yes" the committee report. Three voted "no", while one abstained.
The voting took place during the Rodriguez panel's seventh public consultation-slash-hearing on pro-Cha-cha measures filed in the curent 19th Congress.
Just a week ago, Rodriguez seemingly brushed off pronouncements from Marcos that proposed amendments to the 36-year-old Constitution wasn't a priority of his administration.
“We respect the opinion of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on constitutional amendment measures. We will of course consider it. But as an independent branch of government, the House of Representatives and Congress will proceed with its public dialogues on this issue,” Rodriguez said last Feb. 13.
Right after Monday afternoon's vote, Cavite 4th district Rep. Elpidio Barzaga noted that there were four pending resolutions seeking Constitutional amendments, namely Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) Nos. 1-4.
He subsequently requested that the members of panel be furnished with a matrix of the provisions of RBH Nos. 1-4 to facilitate their future discussions, particularly on the next scheduled hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 22.
Expected to be pursued on Wednesday is a hanging motion from Iloilo 3rd district Rep. Lorenz Defensor to amend the committee report in order to specificy that a "hybrid" con-con be used instead of the traditional con-con.
Former Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice had suggested during the morning session of the panel hearing that the proposed con-con be composed of both elected and appointed delegates---thus, a hybrid con-con.
The two other methods by which the existing Charter can be amended is via constituent assembly (con-ass) and people's initiative (PI).
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A Cha-cha proponent, Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte, echoed Rodriguez's remarks over the weekend and said tha the House of Representatives would go ahead with the initiative even if the President himself had seemingly cast aside the thought of revising the Constitution.
"The problem in our country is basically poverty. We need to create jobs, and in order to create jobs we need foreign investments, foreign capital," said Villafuerte, who is the majority leader of the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA).
“Now, if we can't have a plebiscite to approve the would-be proposed constitutional amendments by the first quarter next year, I think we have to wait another five years, which means the next President, to keep rolling. That's the sad reality,” he said.
The Bicolano pointed out that the best time for Cha-cha to happen is right now at the start of the Marcos presidency when such an initiative wouldn’t raise doubts about a possible hidden agenda to extend terms of incumbent elective officials.
“If you will look at it, a main source of poverty in the Philippines is our low agricultural output. There's a lot of lands in the country that are idle. We need foreign capital and foreign technology ,” said Villafuerte, who authored House Bill (HB) No. 4926 aiming to introduce constitutional amendments via the con-con route.