Rody drops con-con in federalism bid

MANILA, Philippines - President Duterte has abandoned his proposal to amend the Constitution to shift to federal system of government through an elected constitutional convention (con-con) in favor of Congress itself doing Charter change (Cha-cha).

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez revealed the President’s change of heart in a dialogue with businessmen yesterday.

Alvarez said Duterte met with him, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno and other lawmakers on Wednesday night after the National Security Council meeting in Malacañang to talk about the President’s advocacy of federalism and how to do it.

 “He was initially suggesting the convening of a con-con, but later realized that a convention would be expensive,” he said.

The Speaker said the President agreed that Congress, convened as a constituent assembly or con-ass, would propose constitutional amendments that would shift the nation to the federal system.

“Con-ass is the fastest and least expensive mode of proposing changes in the Constitution.”

Election experts have estimated that electing con-con delegates nationwide would cost at least P6 billion, while maintaining the convention, its secretariat and offices and paying for the expenses of delegates would entail about P3 billion a year.

Alvarez said those are huge sums that could be better used for infrastructure and social services.

“Don’t worry. As long as Digong Duterte is President, your fears about con-ass will not happen. We are committed to do it for the country,” he told business leaders.

He was apparently referring to apprehensions that lawmakers, if tasked to do Cha-cha, would propose amendments that would benefit themselves.

He said the timetable for Cha-cha is one-year.

“We should be able to come up with the amendments in one year so we can submit these to the people in a plebiscite that could be held simultaneously with the mid-term elections in 2019,” he said.

Alvarez said the three-year period between 2020 and 2022 would be the transition to the envisioned new system of government.

The Speaker, along with Rep. Maximo Rodriguez Jr. of Cagayan de Oro City and other members of the House of Representatives have filed resolutions calling for con-con.

At least one House member, Alfredo Benitez of Negros Occidental, has proposed that Congress convene itself into a con-ass and do Cha-cha for federalism.

Under Rodriguez’s proposal, the con-con would be composed of one delegate each from the country’s more than 240 legislative districts, while Alvarez’s version would be comprised of “at most 100 members.”

“Those who will make up the convention should have expertise in constitutional law. We cannot choose people who will have no inputs in the convention,” the Speaker has said.

In advocating con-ass, Benitez said it is less expensive because it would not entail the election and maintenance of a separate body that would propose Charter amendments.

He said there would be no suspicion on what lawmakers are doing “as long as the process of proposing amendments is very transparent.”

He is recommending a federal-presidential system, with the retention of the Senate and the House of Representatives but with senators elected no longer at large or nationwide but by federal states.

He is suggesting the creation of 12 states: six in Luzon, including Metro Manila, three in the Visayas and three in Mindanao, including a Bangsamoro federal state.

House members would continue to be elected by legislative district.

The President will still be limited to a single six-year term. In the case of the vice president, Benitez is proposing that the vote for president is a vote for a vice president of his choice.

Both Benitez and Rodriguez are proposing that Charter change should tweak not only the structure of government but the Constitution’s economic provisions as well.

They said all foreign ownership restrictions should be lifted.