HR 1109

House Resolution 1109 was filed by and pushed in the House of Representatives. It aims to convene a constituent assembly to modify or put new rules in our constitution.

I was able to have an encounter with our current constitution with my subjects in college like political science and in high school (was it social studies?). back then i was just concerend of knowing it, But now, after several years, i would want some improvement in our constitution. For us to be able to ride the wave of the changing times and be able to change the future for us Filipinos.

So i think its not a question of changing or modifying our constitution or not. But the questions that needs answers are: 

1. What changes do we intend to make? What do we add, what do we erase, etc. etc..
2. Who will change it?
3. By what means are we going to do this?
4. When are we going to change it?

I’m not sure if the questions i posted above are in order but i think those are the most pressing questions that we need answers to before we do any move.

I’m sure that most of us wants a piece of the pie. Most of us might already have a list of changes we want. But to whom are we going to send this to? Who will hear our voices? So there’s someone who should be able to collate the suggetions and comments. Summarize it and lay it on the table. So for me, its the people who should decide what changes are to be made. our dear legislators can be the one to summarize all these information and for them to present it back to the people for them to decide by a vote if such provisions should be included in the change.

But our current constitution provides three ways of changing it. 

A Constitutional Convention (ConCon) is a body established by law to frame a new Constitution or revise an existing one. It requires the direct election of the delegates by the people. How many delegates are elected will be determined by Congress.

As a Constituent Assembly (ConAss), the Senate and House of Representatives become a constituent body exercising special power to formulate a new constitution or propose amendments to the constitution. 

The product of the Constituent Assembly and a Constitutional Convention will be approved by the people through a referendum.

The third one is through people’s initiative which was the one i’m saying earlier.

Amendments to the Constitution may be directly proposed by the people through initiative upon a petition of: (1) at least 12% of the total number of registered voters; AND (2) every legislative district must be represented by at least 12% of the registered votes therein. No amendment is allowed more often than once every 5 years thereafter.

People’s initiative can only propose ammendments and not revisions. 

Revision broadly implies a change that alters a basic principle in the constitution. Amendment broadly refers to a change that adds, reduces, or deletes without altering the basic principle involved. It generally affects only the specific provision being amended. Where the proposed change applies only to a specific provision of the Constitution without affecting any other section or article.

And it will be sumitted to congress and they will be the one to say if it will be implemented or not. 

For me, ConCon is better than ConAss. But i’m not saying that we should not or can not do ConAss.  ConCon is just more expensive to do and involves a lot of resources – time, effort, people, etc.

But who chooses what to use? Well, its Congress. And when we say Congress, who are they? Based from my understanding of the constitution, congress is composed of the senate and the house of representatives – Senators and Congressmen. Our congressmen are the ones pressing for a Constituent Assembly. And because the 1987 constitution (the one we are using now) is not clear on whether the two houses will vote jointly or separately, our congressmen are doing it by themseleves having majority of the needed numbers based from their interpretation of the provision of our constitution. 

Under normal circumstances, there should be no question if our congressmen lead in this activity. Didn’t majority of the people vote for them as their representative? However, the situation right now is something unusual. They want to lead and not include the senate. Plus, there are reports and moves that are being made where some people and groups are showing that they do not want to have an election in 2010. There are current government officials who would want to extend their terms or seek another position in the government with equal or even greater power (and less responsibilities and accountability to the people).

Bad timing.

That’s the general  sentiment that i’ve been seeing and hearing both online and offline. Let’s not be in a hurry. If we want changes in the constitution, the time is not now. We can do it after the 2010 elections.

No to ConAss now.. yes to ConAss after 2010.

References:

• Wikipedia
• JLP-Law blog