Federal Charter drafts leaked online unofficial, ConCom clarifies

Concom spokesperson Ding Generoso said that the draft being circulated, dated June 27 and June 30, do not contain further corrections made during the panel’s June 28 en banc meeting and other details changed on July 1 and 2.(PNA photo)

MANILA — The supposed draft Federal Constitution being circulated online is not the official copy of the proposal, the Consultative Committee (Concom) tasked to draft the Charter allowing a shift to a federal system of government said on Wednesday.

Concom spokesperson Ding Generoso said that the draft being circulated, dated June 27 and June 30, do not contain further corrections made during the panel’s June 28 en banc meeting and other details changed on July 1 and 2.

“There were still some corrections that the members suggested on the morning of July 3 before the voting took place,” Generoso said.

According to Generoso, the leaked draft was the “working file” or the consolidation of the different articles that had been undergoing daily corrections as the sessions were held.

There were also corrections made in styling, grammar, sentence construction, punctuation marks, redundancies, and possible conflicts with other sections.

The provisions also had to be compared with the 1987 Constitution to ensure that all provisions that were to be retained were actually maintained in the draft, he said.

He made this clarification a day after the Concom on Tuesday unanimously voted to approve the draft Federal Constitution noting that the panel will not release a copy to media until after submitting it to President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Monday (July 9).

Malacañang earlier said that after receiving a copy of the draft Federal Constitution, Duterte will endorse it to his Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) partymates in the Congress.

However, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that it will be up to the Congress to adopt the proposed revisions or not.