Solon proposes Cha-cha referendum

Mountain Province Rep. Maximo Dalog is proposing that a national referendum be held simultaneous with the May 9, 2016 general polls to finally resolve the issue on whether or not to amend or revise the Constitution.

He urged the Commission on Elections to include a rider question on the ballot for next year’s polls asking the electorate if they want the 17th Congress to, within 90 days from the opening of its session, call for a Constitutional Convention that will be composed of elected and appointed delegates to propose amendments or revisions of the 1987 Constitution.

“In order to resolve the issue on whether or not to amend or revise the Constitution, there is a need to consult the people directly by way of referendum and let their sovereign will prevail,” he said.

Under House Resolution 2384, Dalog noted the strong clamor from the business sector to amend some of the economic provisions which, according to him, shoo away foreign investors thereby greatly affecting our progress economically.

He said as early as 1997, there had been a clamor for a constitutional amendment, particularly the provision on term limit of the President which was rejected by the Supreme Court.

He even recalled that in 2006, some 6.3 million registered Filipino voters signed a petition to amend the Constitution in order to change the form of government from presidential-bicameral to parliamentary-unicameral but was not allowed by the Supreme Court as a result of procedural defects in the petition itself.

He explained that Section 3, Article XVIII of the 1987 Constitution provides that Congress may, by vote of twothirds of all its members, call a constitutional convention, or by a majority vote of all its members, submit to the electorate the question calling such a convention.