INCOMING House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez is seen to gain the upper hand over his brewing clash with outgoing Speaker Feliciano Belmonte after Malacañang expressed its preference for a Constitutional Convention as the mode for amending the Constitution to push for a federal system of government.
Belmonte prefers a constituent assembly.
But presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said Monday the President himself favored a Con-Con as the means to revise the 29-year-old Charter.
“As far as we know, President [Rodrigo] Duterte favors Con-Con,” he told reporters.
“[The federalism issue] is part of the consideration, considering that we do have several issues on hand.”
Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday filed a bill calling for a Constitutional Convention.
She proposed that the Con-Con delegates be composed of 12 senators, 12 congressmen and 24 representatives of sectors to be appointed by the President through an Executive Order.
Cebu Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia filed House Bill 312 that seeks to amend the 1987 Constitution through a Con-Con, saying Charter change was needed to “make it more relevant, more adequate and more responsive to the people’s changing needs.”
Incoming Senate President Aquilino Pimentel doused cold water on speculations the Senate will be abolished under a federal system of government.
“Do not worry too much about the shift to the federal system of government as there will still be a legislature under that system,” Pimentel told Senate employees during yesterday’s flag-raising ceremony.
Alvarez is calling for a Constitutional Convention to “overhaul” the Constitution, including the shift from presidential to a federal system of government that entails a nationwide plebiscite.
Belmonte wants Congress to convene itself into a constituent assembly and amend only the economic provisions, which would be approved by a vote of three-fourths of all members of the House and the Senate, with the two chambers voting separately.
Outgoing Senate President Franklin Drilon has filed a resolution calling for a constitutional convention to review the 1987 Constitution.
Pimentel says Charter change will be among the priorities of the Senate, consistent with the plan of President Rodrigo Duterte to shift to federalism.
Negros Occidental Rep. Albee Benitez has also filed a joint resolution seeking to convene Congress and the Senate into a constituent assembly to amend the 1987 Constitution to shift to federalism.
Belmonte is seeking to lift the restrictions on foreign ownership of land and businesses in the country.