Drilon files con-con bill

Senator President Franklin Drilon has filed a resolution calling for a constitutional convention (con-con) to review the 1987 Constitution.

Drilon's con-con bill is the first filed in the Senate following his announcement that all senators are in favor of amending the constitution through a con-con.

Drilon filed Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 1, which calls for a convention. The bill says its members should be elected by January 2017, to propose amendments or revisions to the 29-year-old Constitution.

“There is a need to re-examine the Constitution to determine if it is still attuned or responsive to the demands of present-day realities,” he said.

Con-con members

Drilon said that to maintain the non-partisanship of the con-con, Section 3 of RBH 1 provides that “no person who is a member of Congress at the time of the adoption of this Resolution shall be qualified as a candidate for election as Delegate to the Convention.”

Section 3 also prohibits candidates in the May elections to qualify as a delegate of the con-con.

“Neither shall any person who filed his/her certificate of candidacy in the election of May 9, 2016 shall be qualified as a candidate for election as Delegate to the Convention,” the resolution said.

Drilon, a stalwart of the Liberal Party who topped the 2016 senatorial elections, said Congress may call for a con-con if two-thirds of all its members per chamber -- House of Representatives and the Seante -- approve of the resolution pursuant to Article XVII, Section 3 of the Constitution.

“The common good would be best served if the review of, and proposals to amend or revise, the Constitution would be made through and by a constitutional convention whose delegates are to be elected by the people for such purpose,” Drilon said.

“It is therefore more prudent to have the Constitution reviewed for possible amendments or revision by a constitutional convention whose delegates shall be elected on the last Monday of January 2017,” he added.

House bills

Minutes after Dutere's inauguration, incoming House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez filed a similar bill calling for a con-con to make the Constitution “attuned and responsive to present-day realities.”

Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez has filed House Resolution No. 2, calling for a constitutional assembly to amend the charter.

Under Drilon's bill, con-con delegates will be elected on the last Monday of January 2017 in accordance with existing elections laws, rules and regulations and will be determined by administrative region based on the number of legislative districts.

Meanwhile, delegates will have the same qualifications to those required from members of the House of Representatives but are prohibited to represent any political party or organization in the process.

Any person holding public office or position, including members of the armed forces or government owned and controlled corporations, who desires to be a con-con delegate are considered resigned upon filing of his/her certificate of candidacy.

Drilon did not say if the measure is in support of President Rodrigo Duterte's move for a shift to a federal government.

Duterte plans to change the current unitary and centralized form of government to a federal system to give local governments a greater degree of autonomy.

Alvarez had said that Duterte wants to change the charter through a con-con. —ALG, GMA News