Let us all review and decide on our Charter

You must already know these updates about the proposed Charter change (cha-cha).

One January 26 a national daily bannered “Congress leaders reached cha-cha deal.” The four Congress leaders who met were Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, and House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas.

Information about this meeting was relayed to media.

According to Pimentel’s text: “Congress leaders have agreed to pursue the review of the 1987 Constitution by coming up with specific models and proposals in the form of actual constitutional provisions (that) hopefully could muster the required number of votes for these to be presented to the people in a plebiscite.”

Fariñas’ message: “Agreement (was) to first work on the proposed government structure & other constitutional provisions… the matter of proposing amendments to or revision of the Constitution is purely a legislative action, which will then be submitted to the people for their approval or rejection.”

From Alvarez: “We will talk first about the details, like the structure of the government, until we complete the (new) Constitution. Afterward, once we’re done, it will not make any difference anymore if we vote separately or jointly.” He said that they did not settle what substantial proposals to prioritize but Sotto said they only “agreed on the premise that we need to shift to federalism.”

Alvarez also said that “Congress would see if it could still rush the amendments so that the plebiscite could be held simultaneously with the barangay elections in May. If not, “there’s still the midterm elections” in May 2019.”

How the rest of the senators will react to the meeting of these four pro-federalism will be known soon. The senators are opposed to con-ass and insist on voting on cha-cha separate from the House.

In another related recent news, former chief justice Reynato Puno has been named by Duterte to head a new consultative committee to review the 1987 Constitution along with former senate president Aquilino Pimentel Jr., San Beda College Law dean Fr. Ranhilio Aquino, retired Supreme Court justices Antonio Eduardo Nachura and Bienvenido Reyes, and Roan Libarios, Edmund Tayao, Victor de la Serna, Virgilio Bautista, Rodolfo Robles, Julio Teehankee, Eddie Alih, Ali Balindong, Laurence Wacnang, Reuben Canoy, Arthur Aguilar, Susan Ubalde-Ordinario, Antonio Arellano, and Randolph Parcasio.

It was not clear from the news item if Puno, Pimentel Jr., and the others named have agreed to join this committee. Whether Congress will heed the recommendations of this review committee is also not guaranteed.

What is very clear is that definitely, the House majority will want to push and if allowed, rush the shift to federalism, with or without the Senate, with or without a plebiscite.

Given that any change of the charter, considered the highest law of the land, will impact on our people and our country, we urge everyone to insist on their right to participate in the study and review of any proposal to change the charter. This early, study groups should be voluntarily formed in communities, schools, offices, churches, and by other groups and institutions here and abroad.

Materials and references about the 1986 Philippine Constitution and about any proposal to change the constitution need to be shared with all the Filipinos. Some suggested references you can start with: The Proposed Constitution of the Federal Republic of the Philippines and its Executive Summary at the following 2 sites: http://www.iag.org.ph/index.php/news/1506read-pdp-laban-proposed-constitution-of-the-federalrepublic-of-the-philippines, and, https://www.scribd. com/document/360630189/Executive-Summary.

Please also read the PDP-Laban proposed Constitution of the Federal Republic of the Philippines, Institute for Autonomy and Governance at iag.org.ph which, according to Kaabag Cathy Ruiz, was the third version submitted to Congress as of October 2017.

Rappler’s Fast Facts: 1987 Philippine Constitution is also helpful – https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/ iq/121019-fast-facts-1987-philippine-constitution.

Let us not allow only those with selfish vested interests be the ones to decide the future of our charter and our nation. Let us unite and do our responsibility to read, carefully study, review, and decide together what charter is best for our people and our country.