Cha-cha reso on federalism approved on final reading next week

The House of Representatives will approve on third and final reading next week Resolution of Both Houses 15 amending the 1987 Constitution by adopting a federal government and lifting term limits for lawmakers.

“We are able to pass it on second reading last night, so three days after the copy is circulated, we should be taking it up on third reading, hopefully that would be Monday,” Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said in an ambush interview.

Aside from removing term limits, RBH 15 required college degrees for appointed and elected officials, added lawless violence as a basis to declare martial law and mandates voters to elect a President and Vice President from the same political party or ticket.

Under the 1987 Charter, a member of the House may run for a three-year term for three consecutive times.

A member of the Senate, on the other hand, may run for a six-year term for two consecutive .

In a separate statement, former Bayan Muna party-list Representative and 2019 Senate bet Neri Colmenares warned that the speedy approval of the proposed new Constitution is serious and dangerous.

“The people cannot afford to let our guard down.  The only way for Speaker Arroyo to maintain her chances of returning to Malacañang is if the 2019 elections are cancelled and she remains Speaker until 2022,” Colmenares said.

“If Cha-cha is not passed and elections are held, Speaker Arroyo will be forced to step down as this is her third term, which makes it difficult to come back in 2022,” Colmenares added.

Speaker Arroyo, however, dismissed claims that the measure was railroaded on a whim since the plenary only took three days in deliberating on the proposal to amend the 31-year-old Constitution, and that she wants the Resolution approved quickly to perpetuate herself in power since term limits were removed.

“It’s part of the democratic process. There was a debate, it was voted on,” Arroyo said.

“There was a debate and you know that I did not participate in the debate because I have always said that my only contribution there is the mechanism for setting up the federal states. The others are all contributions of the other congressmen. They should answer for themselves,” Arroyo said.

The RBH 15, however, was silent on how the country’s existing 17 regions will be divided to form federal states which will have the authority to manage its resources and craft its laws, including taxation.

Instead, RBH 15 only provides that a federal state may be created in any part of the country upon a petition address to Congress by any contiguous, compact and adjacent provinces, highly urbanized and component cities, and cities and municipalities in metropolitan area thought a resolution of their respective bodies, subject to the approval by a majority of the votes case in a plebiscite in the political units affected. —NB, GMA News