“The number of delegates to the con-con can be reduced to a size smaller than that of Congress by allocating delegates to the constitutional convention by provinces or regions, not congressional districts,” he said.
Past constitutional conventions had about 200 delegates, the total number of provinces across the archipelago.
The Philippines – from Luzon, Visayas to Mindanao – has 81 provinces, 18 regions and at least 233 legislative districts.
House of Representatives Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas and Deputy Speaker Miro Quimbo agreed with Duterte that holding a con-con might cost government about P50 billion since it will be redundant and would duplicate the functions and mandate of Congress.
This 200 or so con-con delegates will be on top of the total House membership, not to mention the 24-man Senate, all of whom will necessarily be entitled to salaries, allowances, office spaces and of course staff members.
Holding only a con-con election might even cost the government around P7 billion.
Lagman, who belongs to the independent minority bloc of eight, refuted the proposal of Fariñas for Congress to stop – permanently or temporarily – its lawmaking functions because bills might only go against proposals that will be included in amending the Charter.
“The call of Fariñas for Congress to stop making laws in anticipation of Charter change is ludicrous,” he said.
Lagman said House members have their “own bills of national significance which should not be hanged at the gallows of a suspended legislative process.”
“As majority leader, it is the duty of Fariñas to push for the enactment of the President’s legislative agenda yet he is proposing that the administration bills be consigned to the backburner pending amendments to the Constitution,” he said.
Lagman also described as “erratic” Fariñas’ statement that the con-con will just duplicate Congress, citing four reasons.
The first is that the principal power of Congress is to enact laws and formulate policies, while a constitutional convention is mandated to propose amendments or revisions of the Constitution.
The constituent authority of the Congress is only an additional function of the legislature, while the constituent power of a constitutional convention is its sole function, Lagman also said.
He added that Congress is a continuing body while a constitutional convention becomes functus officio or its life ends upon the completion of its proposed amendments for submission to the people.
Laws enacted by Congress do not need the ratification of the people, while the proposed amendments of the constitutional convention are subject to the people’s approval in a plebiscite, like projected amendments by any mode, Lagman said.
‘Lawmakers won’t benefit’
Meanwhile, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez assured the public yesterday that members of the constitutional commission (con-com) will not benefit from key provisions to be crafted into the Constitution when the government system shifts to federal-parliamentary.
“We have to put restrictions,” he said.
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read more: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/08/08/1611275/number-con-con-delegates-can-be-reduced
