Puno says ‘protocol’ prevents public perusal of federal constitution

Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno, chair of the panel behind a proposed federal constitution, insisted that the public could see the official copy of their work only after it was submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte.

"We have to follow official protocol. We have to give a copy first to the president," Puno told GMA News Online on Friday, addressing concerns on the Consultative Committee's (Con-com) lack of transparency after it approved the proposal without publicly releasing it.

"We do not lack transparency. We have regularly briefed the media of the progress of our work," argued the former Supreme Court chief justice.

Nevertheless, at least two earlier working drafts have been circulating online.

The Con-com, a body formed by Duterte to propose amendments to the 1987 Constitution, unanimously voted in favor of a proposal for a federal charter that the committee had worked on for over four months.

The draft would be submitted to the president on July 9. After which, Duterte was expected to endorse the proposal to Congress, which was dominated by the president's allies.

Congress could either accept, tweak, or completely reject the Con-com's proposed federal charter. If passed by Congress, it would then be subject to a public vote.

The Con-com's draft federal charter eliminated a term extension for both Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo during the envisioned transition to federalism, though it did not explicitly ban their reelection under the new constitution.

The draft also prohibited political dynasties up to a certain degree, penalized switching political parties, "strengthened" the Bill of Rights, and created 18 constituent units called federated regions.

Secession, or even advocacy, demand, or support to secede from the imagined federal republic was prohibited under the Con-com's proposal.

The Con-com's federal constitution was argued to be a way by which powers concentrated in Manila or the central government could be distributed to the states.

However, critics feared that the transition to federalism was either a strategy that would keep Duterte in power, or else would lead to "constitutional authoritarianism." — DVM, GMA News