|
Friday, December 01, 2006
Majority ready to submit Con-Ass resolution
MANILA -- The House leadership is ready to submit on Monday a new resolution convening Congress into a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass), said Cagayan de Oro Representative Constantino Jaraula.
Jaraula, chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, said the technical working group tasked to formulate and iron out differences on the proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution has already prepared the proposed Constitution, which will be the subject of a separate resolution.
Sun.Star Network Online's 12th Asean Summit Watch
"It's finished. I'm only making some refinements but we'll present it on the floor on Monday," he said.
But some insiders in the majority bloc revealed that there were no big changes made by the technical working group and that it is basically the same with the one attached to House Speaker Jose de Venecia's Resolution 1230.
The resolution centers on the shift to a unicameral-parliamentary government. The proposed changes, already adopted by the Jaraula panel, were shelved in efforts to woo senators to support the Charter change campaign.
The majority bloc's plan now is to convince the senators to sit with them first and tackle the specific amendments later.
The Constitution provides that any revision or amendment to the Constitution may be proposed by a vote of three-fourths of all members of Congress.
Since it does not specifically mention "both Houses," de Venecia interprets this to mean that the House can introduce proposed changes even without the participation of the Senate as long as it would meet the so-called three-fourth or 195 votes.
On Wednesday night, members of the majority tried but failed to speed up the approval of the Charter change resolution without undergoing the normal process of legislation.
Representative Arthur Defensor, a deputy majority leader, moved to amend Section 105 of Rule 15.
The present rules provide that a Charter change resolution must undergo committee deliberations and be adopted until the third and final reading.
But Defensor insisted that the resolution should not be treated like an ordinary bill, going through first, second and third reading since it concerns changing the Constitution.
Akbayan party-list Representative Mario Aguja had just delivered a privilege speech on the looming water shortage in Metro Manila and was being interpellated by Cibac party-list Representative Joel Villanueva when presiding chair Raul del Mar, ruled that they wrap up the period of interpellations to give way to what he described as a "more important and urgent" measure. (Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Davao. (December 1, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
