House amenable to voting separately in ConAss, solon says

The House of Representatives is amenable to voting separately if both of houses of Congress will convene in a constituent assembly (ConAss) to propose amendments to the Constitution.

House Committee on Constitutional Amendments chairman, Southern Leyte Representative Roger Mercado, told Super Radyo dzBB in an interview on Sunday that while the Constitution states that amendments should be done through a constituent assembly via a "joint" voting of its members, the House is open to a separate voting.

Mercado was reacting to Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III's statement that the Senate will insist on voting separate in the ConAss.

"Although ang Constitution ay nagsabi na in an amendment to be done by a constituent assembly, voting shall be done jointly. Then if there is three-fourths vote, then ma-a-approve na 'yong mga amendments," he said.

"But be that as it may, palagay ko si Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez at saka mga kasama natin sa Kamara, we are amenable kung separate voting," he added.

"In case tatanungin nila yung problema sa joint voting, palagay ko wala namang problema dahil ang goal naman natin is ma-revisit at ma-discuss yung Constitution. Hindi naman tayo masyadong delikado sa detalye," he said.

Alvarez, in an interview on Wednesday, said convening Congress in a ConAss is the top priority of the House of Representatives this year.

If Congress decides to convene in a ConAss this January, Alvarez said the proposed new federal charter may be submitted for a referendum simultaneously with the scheduled Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections this May.

Despite this short period of time, Mercado is confident the ConAss can still properly discuss the proposed amendments to the Constitution.

"Remember na itong Saligang Batas has already been discussed so many times and our Congress itself has already made so many public hearings and studies on this," he said.

"So we practically have an idea already on the basic provisions that needs to be revisited," he added.

Mercado likewise said the Supreme Court is unlikely to interfere in the decisions of the ConAss on constitutional revisions, in case there are petitions that will be lodged against it before the high court.

"There were already precedence na acts of Congress that are being petitioned or questioned in the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court always denies the petition by reason of political issue," he said.

"If it is a political issue, then the Supreme Court will not interfere. The Supreme Court will only interfere if it is a constitutional question or factual question that is being raised before the Supreme Court. Pero ito, it is a political issue ito e," he added.

The Duterte administration has been pushing for a shift to a federal form of government as a means to address issues particularly in strife-torn Mindanao. —ALG, GMA News