House holds hearing on constitutional reforms

The House Committee on Constitutional Amendments on Wednesday conducted its initial deliberations on various measures seeking to amend the 1987 Constitution. (File Photo: House of Representatives of the Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA – The House Committee on Constitutional Amendments on Wednesday conducted its initial deliberations on various measures seeking to amend the 1987 Constitution.

During the hearing, Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, panel chair, pushed for the convening of a Constitutional Convention to propose amendments to the Constitution.

He said this move would counteract any suspicion that the constitutional reform would promote vested interests and personal ambitions of elective officials.

He pointed out the issues surrounding other proposals to amend the Constitution, noting that the move for Congress to be unicameral would affect the Senate, while the proposed term extension for public officials would bring the issue of conflict of interest.

“When we propose that we extend our terms, from three to four or five years, then the people will see that these are incumbent members of Congress and people will think that this is for the self-interest for members of Congress,” Rodriguez said.

“That is why I am constrained, after the experiences in previous Congresses, I am now calling for support for the convening of a ConCon,” he added.

House Joint Resolution 12, authored by Rodriguez, states that the Constitutional Convention shall be composed of elected delegates from all regions of the country.

Rodriguez said this would be the “most democratic” and “least divisive” mode of amending the Constitution, adding that the committee will not rush into deciding on the measures.

“We are not going to rush these (measures). These are very important resolutions filed on the fundamental law, the basic law of the land,” he said.

He said lawmakers will conduct hearings and consultations on the measures not only in Congress but also in the regions nationwide.

“We assure that we are going to have everyone who wish to participate be invited to speak on any of these eight measures that we have already received,” he said.

Other proposals include House Bill 4926, HB 4421, Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 1, RBH 2, RBH 3, RBH 4 and 5.

Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr., author of Resolution of Both Houses 1, proposed longer terms for the president, vice president, members of the House of Representatives and local officials.

Resolution of Both Houses No. 1 urges the Senate and the House of Representatives to convene into a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) to amend the term of office of the President and other elective officials.

Gonzales proposed in the resolution that the terms of office for presidents and vice presidents be fixed at five years with one reelection, instead of the present six years without reelection.

Gonzales argued that the current six-year term to implement long-term programs and policies appears to be “insufficient”.

“We are now on our road to recovery having more than PHP12 trillion national debt due to the Covid-19 pandemic and most recently the high prices of fuel due to the Russia-Ukraine war. A long-term solution is wanting, hence, longer-term policy on good and competent leadership should be put in place,” he said.

He noted the “clear majority mandate” from the Filipino people of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte would be a green light from our citizenry to proceed to the discussion on Charter change.”

The resolution requires that the president and vice presidential candidates should belong to the same political party and will be elected in tandem.

The resolution also seeks to change the current three-year term of elected local officials, except the barangay officials, to a five-year term subject to the limit of two consecutive five-year terms.