Concom adopts entire articles on executive, legislative branches

MANILA — Proposed revisions in the entire Articles on Executive and Legislative branch were finally approved in an en banc session by President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s Consultative Committee (Concom) to review the 1987 Constitution.

“The two Articles covering the Executive and Legislative branches [were approved unanimously] in yesterday’s seventh en banc session of the Consultative Committee,” Concom Senior Technical Assistant and spokesperson Ding Generoso said in a press conference at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) on Wednesday.

Generoso said that in voting in the Executive branch, the Article was approved by unanimous acclaim where no voting was taken. Instead, Concom members applauded after reading the last sentence of the article and simply said “it’s approved.”

Meanwhile, in voting in the Legislative Branch, the vote was a unanimous 19-0.

Political party representation

Generoso said that most items voted upon were already reported in previous media briefings. However, there are two significant changes that have not yet been tackled in the Article of the Legislative Branch.

One is the confirmation on the “proportional party representation” in Section 5.

In the proposed Congress, 60 percent of the members of the House of Representatives shall be elected by district and 40 percent will be elected nationwide by proportional party representation.

According to Generoso, a proportional party representation will be in place of the current party-list system.

“Political parties that get at least 5 percent of the total votes cast for the proportional party representation shall be entitled to nominate their representatives,” Generoso said.

Moreover, he said that the Concom has also removed the cap which is a maximum of three seats for every party-list.

“The reason for that is basically, the committee felt that by increasing the threshold, we are also trying to clean up the party-list system,” he added.

For the first three years, after the constitution is ratified, the proposal is that half of the 40 percent seats in the House of Representatives reserved for proportional party representation shall be reserved for party organizations that represent marginalized sectors namely labor, farmers, urban poor, fisher folks, and indigenous communities.

These party-list organizations will be allowed to evolve into regular political parties so that there will no longer be two classes of parties–party-list and political parties.

“They will all be simply political parties. Part of the leveling of the political playing field is there should be one label for everyone,” Generoso said.

People’s initiative

The second significant change is people’s initiative for the enactment, amendment or repeal of federal law in Section 32.

“There is now a self-executory provision on direct exercise of legislative powers by the people.  This will amend Section 32 of the Article on the Legislative Branch,” Generoso said.

This provision allows the people to directly enact, amend, repeal a federal law by filing a petition before the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The proposal shall require the signature of 10 percent of voters but instead of a minimum requirement per congressional district, the threshold will be three percent per federated region, which will be easier to obtain.

The Comelec is directed to promulgate the rules.

Here are some of the revisions in the Article on the Executive Branch which have been approved:

*The President and Vice President should be a holder of a college degree or its equivalent

*The Vice President shall be appointed as a member of the Cabinet

*The President and Vice President shall have a four-year term with one reelection

*The President and Vice President shall be elected as a tandem

*The Federal Electoral Tribunal shall be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns, and qualifications of President and Vice President

*In case the Vice President post is vacant, the President shall appoint a Senator or Congressman belonging to his or her political party

*Only Armed Forces officers with a rank of major general, real admiral and above need confirmation of the Commission on Appointments

*Congress may request documents and papers relative to foreign loans

Here are some of the revisions in the Article on the Legislative Branch which have been approved:

*Two senators will be elected in every federated region

*Senators and congressmen should be a holder of a college degree or its equivalent

*Senators and congressmen will have a four-year term of office and will only be allowed to serve two consecutive terms

*There will be 400 members of the House of Representatives

*There will be proportional party representation (in place of the current party-list system) where 60 percent of the members of the House of Representations will be elected by district and 40 percent will be elected nationally by proportional representation; voters elect the political party; parties that get at least 5 percent of votes shall be allowed to nominate their representatives

* one-half of the seats for proportional party representation will be reserved for nominees of political parties from the marginalized sectors namely labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, and fisher folks for the first three elections after the ratification of the Constitution

*Current party-list organizations can evolve into regular political parties

*Senate and House will comply with final and executory orders of judicial or quasi-judicial authorities in suspending any of its members.

*Senate and House will allow witnesses or resource persons in congressional inquiries who are detained for contempt to seek judicial relief

*President has power to declare war in the event that the Congress is unable to convene to do so

*A Bicameral Conference Committee composed of members chosen by Senate and House is recognized to reconcile conflicting provisions of bills passed by both houses

*There will be a people’s initiative for the enactment, amendment or repeal of federal law