Sotto: Duterte wants Congress to fast track discussion on shift to federalism

President Rodrigo Duterte has reiterated his wish for Congress to fast track the discussion on the shift to federalism for him to step down from office the soonest possible time, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Thursday.

Sotto said the President made the remark during the meeting with members of  Congress on Wednesday.

“He reiterated na kung puwedeng madaliin na para puwede na siyang palitan,” he said during the press conference after the Consultative Committee turned over to the Senate a copy of the draft federal constitution.

Asked what was the commitment of the leaders of Congress, Sotto just said: “Secret.”

He, however, asked Duterte if he is already abandoning the country, for which the Chief Executive did not answer.

The Senate leader said that while waiting for the official transmission of the draft federal constitution, he will provide each senator a copy before the week ends to allow them to study the proposal.

“The first step I will be doing is I will be distributing copies to the members of the Senate and talk to the chairman of the committee on constitutional  amendments and revision of codes, Senator Francis Pangilinan,” he said.

He said it will be a lot easier to review the document on their own before they discuss it.

He added he will then call for an all senators caucus to discuss how they will go about the proposal and how they will include it in the schedule of the Senate. 

Asked if Congress still has time to discuss the draft federal constitution, Sotto said they have to make time for it.

“We will have to make time. The way I am hearing it from ConCom and the President, this is indeed a priority. Pipilitin namin pagkasyahin ito in time for the budget. Ang budget naman ang House ang mauuna (magdeliberate),” he said. 

He said the constituent assembly has to be convened first to tackle the draft federal constitution.

Sotto said constituent assembly is the fastest way to review the Constitution because its members are the senators and congressmen who only need to pass a resolution to convene the body.

“It’s the fastest way, I think majority of the Senate will agree that it is the only way if we decide to facilitate this. Constitutional Convention is the best way but a lot more expensive,” he said.

Even Con-com chairman former Chief Justice Reynato Puno and member former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. agreed that ConAss is the best means to amend the Constitution.

“We thank the Senate President for receiving us and for the assurance that this draft constitution will be properly considered as inputs when the Congress hopefully convenes as a constituent assembly and consider revising our Constitution in order to effectuate the shift from a unitary government to a federal government,” Puno said in his opening remarks.

“We acknowledge that the power to revise our Constitution through the constituent assembly lies with the Congress of the Philippines. We are here to assist Congress when it engages in the task of revising our Constitution,” he said.

Pimentel said the constituent assembly should vote separately so as not to diminish the vote of the senators.

“I hope voting separately ‘pagkat ayoko kayong malunod sa boto ng House, 24 lang ang senador natin,” he said during the same event. — RSJ, GMA News