NO one can stop delegates to the proposed hybrid constitutional convention (con-con) from introducing political amendments, including changing the terms of elected officials, once the body is convened to review, amend or revise the 35-year-old Constitution, a proponent of Charter change admitted yesterday.
Iloilo Rep. Lorenz Defensor, who is one of the sponsors of House Bill No. 7352, which is the implementing bill to Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 calling for a con-con, said the House cannot impose on the delegates that only the “restrictive” economic provisions of the Charter should be amended.
“We agree, Mr. Speaker that we cannot dictate or control the constitutional convention once it is convened,” the senior vice chair of the committee on constitutional amendments told Camarines Sur Rep. Gabriel Bordado during the continuation of the plenary deliberations on the con-con bill.
In his interpellation on the bill, Rep. Raoul Manuel (PL, Kabataan) exposed the vulnerabilities of the con-con to the influences of political parties, dynasties, and other powerful groups.
When asked if the delegates can be used by a political party to parrot its position, Defensor said that anyone can be influenced, but said elections will weed out any bad influences.
“Sa ngayon, still hindi po tayo panatag na even through constitutional convention ay mas magiging democratic po ito (Right now, I’m not convinced that this will be democratic even if we do it through a constitutional convention),” Manuel said as he questioned the criteria for choosing appointed delegates.
Defensor said the House has made it clear in RBH No. 6 “that it is the thrust of the House of Representatives, in the exercise of its constituent power, that only the economic provisions of the 1987 convention will be amended.”
He said the House took this tack because the Senate sat on Resolution of Both Houses No. 2 calling for Congress to convene into a constituent assembly (con-ass) to amend the Constitution.
He said the Senate did not act upon the measure which also “did not gain public trust (and) now we are back in this discussion, and we are opening the doors to a more democratic process by calling for a constitutional convention with the sole purpose on the side of the House of Representatives to amend only the economic provisions of the Constitution.”
Defensor said only the voting public and those who will have the power to appoint the delegates can ensure the integrity of the con-con delegates who are still vulnerable to outside influences.
“Mr. Speaker, the checks and balances and the manner of ensuring that the con-con will follow is left to the Filipino people to vote the right delegates that will act accordingly in the constitutional convention because under our jurisprudence, we cannot control the delegates of the constitutional convention except that its powers are limited by the Constitution itself because it derives its power from the constitutional convention,” Defensor said.
For an instance, he said the con-con cannot propose amendments that would violate the Bill of Rights under Article III, or amendments that would violate international law that has been accepted as part of our laws under Article II of the Constitution “and considered as used cogence under our Constitution.”
Defensor said that the proposed seven-month term of the convention is enough to draw up a new Constitution and that there is enough time to hold the election of delegates, which proponents want to be held simultaneously with the October 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.
EXPENSIVE CON-CON
Defensor said the operating cost of a planned constitutional convention may reach P2.4 billion, an amount which could still be adjusted.
Manuel presented estimated figures for the costs of the P10,000 per diem allowance for the delegates of the constitutional convention, which he asserted was too much foregone resources that could be used to ensure services for people in need.
“Tingin natin, sobrang gastos pa rin talaga kasi P3.16 million per day, kung merong 20 session days sa isang buwan, gagastos na tayo ng P63.2 million bawat buwan, tapos kung ita-times 7 pa po natin ‘yan, eh di sobrang laki na talaga, aabot ng P400 plus million (We believe that spending P3.16 million a day, if we hold 20 session days a month, is still exorbitant. We will spend P63.2 million monthly and if we do multiply it by seven, the amount will be so huge, reaching P400 million plus),” he said.
Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chair of the committee on constitutional amendments, said convening a con-con is not an expensive exercise since it can be convened for P10 billion in total.
Rodriguez said that if the con-con will be held simultaneously with the barangay elections, it will cost P1.5 billion plus an additional P8 billion for its operations and the plebiscite’s ratification of the new Constitution.
“My goodness saying that this is expensive, no,” he told ANC. “As stated by (former Supreme Court) chief justice Renato Puno, this expense for a constitutional convention to uplift, to improve our country is not an expense, it is an investment for our future.”
