Drilon files bill calling for con-con

According to the lawmaker, ‘It is, therefore, more prudent to have the Constitution reviewed for possible amendments or revision by a constitutional convention whose delegates shall be elected on the last Monday of January 2017’

SEN. Franklin Drilon yesterday said it is high time to change the present Constitution.

Drilon has filed a resolution calling for a constitutional convention (con-con) to review the 1987 Constitution, citing the need to determine if it is still attuned to the demands of present day realities.

The senator said that Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 1 calls for a convention, whose members shall be elected by January of next year, to propose amendments or revision for the 29-year-old Constitution.

Drilon said that in order to maintain the non-partisan nature of the process, Section 3 of RBH 1 provides that “No person who is a member of the Congress of the Republic of the Philippines at the time of the adoption of this Resolution shall be qualified as a candidate for election as delegate to the convention.”

He further explained that the same section also prohibits candidates in the May 2016 elections to qualify as a candidate for election as delegate to the convention.

“Neither shall any person who filed his/her certificate of candidacy in the election of May 9, 2016 shall be qualified as a candidate for election as delegate to the convention,” the resolution states.

A lawyer and former justice secretary, Drilon explained that pursuant to Article XVII, Section 3 of the Constitution, “Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of all its members, call a constitutional convention to propose amend- ments to, or a revision of, the Constitution.”

“The common good would be best served if the review of, and proposals to amend or revise, the Constitution would be made through and by a constitutional convention whose delegates are to be elected by the people for such purpose,” said Drilon, who topped the 2016 senatorial elections.

“It is, therefore, more prudent to have the Constitution re- viewed for possible amendments or revision by a constitutional convention whose delegates shall be elected on the last Monday of January 2017,” he added.

Drilon said each house has to vote separately on the resolution.

According to the resolution, the delegate to the convention will be elected on the last Monday of January 2017 in accordance with the provisions of existing elections laws, rules and regulations.

They shall be elected by administrative region based on the number of legislative districts in such region, the resolution said. (Jun M. Sarmiento/Sunnex)