Duterte OKs Con-com's draft federal constitution

President Rodrigo Duterte has approved and is endorsing to Congress the Consultative Committee’s (Con-com) draft federal constitution almost as a whole, hours after he formally received its final draft.

Except for a “request” to amend the transitory provisions, Duterte approved the Con-com’s proposal “in toto,” said panel spokesman Ding Generoso on Monday evening.

“It’s just the transitory provisions he wants changed. The rest in toto PRRD said he approves and will endorse,” Generoso told reporters.

FULL DOCUMENT: Draft Federal Constitution

Citing presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, Generoso said Duterte wants the guidelines for the country’s possible shift to federalism to provide for an elected leader during the transition, contrary to the Con-com proposal to make him lead a 10-member Federal Transition Commission.

Roque earlier said Duterte has instructed the 22-member body to craft a provision that would enable him to step down  before the proposed transition to a federal form of government.

"It's to remove all suspicions and I am tired. Ready to give it to somebody else,'" Roque quoted Duterte as saying at the start of the Cabinet meeting in the presidential palace, after the Con-com turned over its work to the chief executive.

Article XXII of the draft charter as proposed by the Con-com provides for what has been called a "very powerful" Federal Transition Commission to be headed by Duterte.

This commission is envisioned to be a 10-member panel of experts in economy, law, fiscal management, governance, or development and to complete its mandate of formulating, adopting and executing a transition plan by the end of Duterte's six-year term on June 30, 2022.

Critics of Charter change under the Duterte administration have accused him of encouraging amendments to maintain his hold on power, an allegation Malacañang has repeatedly belied, saying that the President has no desire to extend his six-year term that ends in June 2022.

Bayanihan federalism

Former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, head of the Consultative Committee tasked by the President to review the 1987 Constitution, handed over the copy of the proposed charter to Duterte during a simple ceremony in Malacañang.

In his speech, Puno said the 22-member committee proposes to establish a "distinct federalism in our country — a bayanihan federalism."

"The design of this bayanihan federalism installs a Federal Government strong enough to hold together the various federated regions and establishes federated regions that are socially, economically and politically viable and sustainable," Puno said.

"We divided the powers of government guided by the Filipino spirit of bayanihan where both the federal government and the federated regions govern the people less in competition but more in cooperation with one another and aligned with the maxim the welfare of the people is the supreme law. (Salus populi est suprema lex)," he added.

Under the Con-com's proposal, the federal republic will be composed of 18 constituent political units called federated regions, including the previously dissolved Negros Region, and the Bangsamoro, and the Cordilleras.

The draft will go through scrutiny and possible revisions in Congress, acting as a constituent assembly, before it is presented for ratification through a plebiscite. —with Virgil Lopez/JST, GMA News