Monday, October 30, 2006 Del Mar to seek Cha-cha caucus
DEPUTY House Speaker Raul del Mar will propose for an all-member caucus on whether or not Congress should convene as a constituent assembly and work on changes in the 1987 Constitution.
This way, “prolonged discussions” in the plenary could be avoided in settling whether to have a constituent assembly or not, and if other amendments will be tackled aside from a change in the form of government.
They will also discuss if they could muster a 3/4 vote of all members of Congress, which the law requires.
And while he did not categorically say that he favors holding a constituent assembly to change the Constitution, he said he will support moves to bring the matter to the Supreme Court (SC).
“I will join efforts to elevate this issue to the Supreme Court on whether the House and the Senate, voting jointly in a constitutional assembly, is constitutional or not,” he said.
He said that while it was clear in previous constitutions that the Senate and the House vote separately in a constituent assembly, the 1987 Constitution is silent on the matter.
Section 1, Article 17 of the Constitution states that amendments or revisions may be proposed by: Congress, acting as constituent assembly, upon a vote of 3/4 of all its members; through a constitutional convention; and by the people through an initiative, upon a petition of at least 12 percent of the total number of registered voters.
By a vote of 8-7, the Supreme Court recently rejected as unconstitutional a petition to amend via a people’s initiative.
Del Mar said members of the majority party coalition, composed of the Lakas-National Union of Christian Democrats, President Arroyo’s Kampi, a faction of the Liberal Party and the Nacionalista Party, have not met yet to express its stand on pursuing a constituent assembly.
He said the caucus he is calling for includes not only members of the administration, which compose the majority, but also those from the opposition.
He will officially ask for a caucus once session resumes on Nov. 6.
Asked what amendments he wished to introduce in the Constitution, Del Mar cited granting foreigners the right to own land and relaxing restrictions on foreign participation in the economy.
He admitted, though, that after two resolutions specifying proposed changes in the Constitution were submitted to the committee on constitutional amendments, several congressmen voiced their objections.
These lawmakers believed that they should first deal with changing into a parliamentary, unicameral system of government and putting off the “other noteworthy amendments.”
The resolutions are being consolidated by the committee, del Mar added. (RHM)
