Robin Padilla files resolution seeking Cha-cha via con-con

Senator Robin Padilla on Monday filed a resolution that seeks to revise the 1987 Constitution through a constitutional convention.

Padilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments, filed Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 8 on Monday despite the ongoing Senate deliberations of RBH 6 which seeks to amend certain economic provisions of the Constitution through legislation or via a constituent assembly (con-ass).

"To dispel any doubt that a proposed revision to the 1987 Constitution would only advance the interests of a few, a constitutional convention is deemed to be the more appropriate mode of doing said revision," Padilla said in RBH No. 8.

"Resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines, by a vote of two-thirds of all members of each House voting separately, to call for a constitutional convention to revise the 1987 Constitution," the measure read.

Should RBH No. 8 be approved by both houses of Congress, Padilla said the Legislative Department shall enact an enabling legislation that will embody all details relative to the convening of the con-con.

Padilla explained that through a con-con, the revision to the Charter would be participatory and democratic, considering that the delegates are elected by the people and are more likely to be a more diverse and representative body.

In filing the measure, the lawmaker cited the position paper submitted by the faculty members of the University of the Philippines Department of Political Science to the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments which enumerated the following advantages of a con-con:

• encourages more participation of other actors
• likely promotes diversity and pluralistic views and opinions
• delegates selected through popular elections

Likewise, Padilla noted the view of the Institute of Political and Electoral Reform (IPER) which said that the members of a con-con, being elected specifically for the revision of the Constitution, were more focused on the task at hand and that the process would be democratic, transparent, and deliberative.

Under Article XVII of the 1987 Constitution, changes to the Charter maybe accomplished through:

• Congress upon a vote of three-fourth of all its members
• a constitutional convention
• a People’s initiative upon a petition of at least twelve percent of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least three percent of the registered voters therein.

— DVM, GMA Integrated News