FINISH REVIEW IN A YEAR, CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION TOLD

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday said he wanted the review of the 1987 Constitution done within the year to give Congress enough time to act on the proposed amendmends of the country’s charter.

This after the President appointed a 19- member consultative commission headed by former chief justice Reynato Puno to review the current Constitution.

“Just enough time to for Congress to act on it, I want it done this year,” the President said.

On Thursday, Malacañang released the appointment papers of the consultative body, which includes former magistrates, law professors, members of the academe and former government officials

Named to the body were former Supreme Court Associate Justices Antonio Eduardo Nachura and Bienvenido Reyes, former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., San Beda College Graduate School of Law dean Fr. Ranhilio Aquino, and political scientists Julio Teehankee and Edmund Tayao, among others.

The appointment papers were released a day after the Senate and House of Representatives agreed to conduct respective discussions on Charter change before convening as one body.

Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd said they were eyeing to hold a plebiscite on charter change simultaneously with the May 2019 midterm elections to

save funds. about P6 billion to hold the plebiscite earlier,” Pimentel said in an interview earlier this week.

The President said funding for Charter change should not be an issue.

“We do not want to hang...It’s either we do it, if there’s a cost, so be it. It may result in violence, we avoid it,” Duterte said.

Duterte had said he wanted to shift the government structure to a federal system where local government units have more autonomy and power.

However, critics said a federal system could empower political dynas- sustain for poor regions.