Ordinary folk eyed for ConCom

Isabela 1st Dist, Rep. Rodito Albano is pitching for the inclusion of ordinary Filipinos to the 25-man Constitutional Commission (ConCom) which will help lawmakers in their pursuit of Charter change (Cha-cha).

“The founding fathers that made the constitution of the United States (US) were simple men... they weren’t lawyers and they produced a constitution that was the best in the world,” reckoned the outspoken Albano, who is the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan’s (PDP-Laban) representative to the powerful Commission on Appointments.

PDP-Laban is chaired by no less than President Rodrigo Duterte.

Asked who are the legal experts that he thinks should comprise the ConCom and lend their collective wisdom to Congress, Albano said: “We don’t need bright men to complicate things.”

“What we need are people whose hearts and minds should be attuned to the welfare of our people,” the House leader explained.

Asked if he had any particular personalities in mind, the Isabela congressman simply answered, “You,” as if to drive home the point that there need not be any bigwigs in the ConCom.

If all goes as planned, both chambers of Congress (House of Representatives and Senate) will convene into a Constituent Assembly or Con-Ass and open the existing 1987 Constitution for revisions.

The ConCom will provide vital assistance to the Con-Ass delegates, who will have to contend with their regular legislative work on top of their Cha-cha task.

The Con-Ass effort is expected to go full-blast once Congress sessions resume on January 15 after a monthlong holiday break.

Reports said that Malacañang had already completed its list of 25 proposed ConCom appointees back in September.

The Committee on Constitutional Amendments chaired by Leyte Rep. Roger Mercado had guaranteed the approval of House Concurrent Resolution (HRC) No. 9 by January 2018.

The measure calls on the House and Senate to convene into a Con-Ass.

The House began plenary debates on the measure during its final session day of 2017 last December 13.

Lawmakers then went on their holiday break.