In viva-voce voting, the House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on second reading a resolution that amends the 1987 Constitution to effect President Rodrigo Duterte’s proposed shift to a federal form of government.
Resolution of Both Houses 15 (RBH 15), or the draft federal charter, was approved in plenary session with Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Raneo Abu as the presiding speaker. The proposed federal Charter is among the key items in the Duterte administration’s legislative agenda.
Opposition and ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio tried to block the resolution’s approval by proposing several amendments but the House rejected all of these.
Rep. Vicente Veloso of Leyte, chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, told reporters the resolution will be transmitted to the Senate through the House’s Office of the Secretary-General.
Veloso said he hopes the Senate will cooperate with the House in its efforts to rewrite the 1987 Constitution.
Veloso said the amended RBH provides a “no term limit” provision.
He played down criticism that the proposed federal charter was railroaded through the House, saying lawmakers have been dicussing the measure since 2017.
RBH 15, which was already amended to return the vice president in the line of succession to the presidency, remains pending in the plenary as Congress is scheduled to begin its Christmas break on Dec. 15.
Veloso, former Court of Appeals associate justice, earlier said “many provisions of the 1987 Constitution have already served, if not outlived, their purpose, hence, the sustained clamor over the years for amendments to or revision of the Constitution finds justification in the need to provide, among other much-needed.
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