The House committee on constitutional amendments has resumed its discussion and review of the 1987 Constitution, following moves to shift from unitary to federal system of government.
Earlier, the House body has created four sub-committees which would draft the Philippine Federal Constitution. Each group handles specific areas to be covered in writing the new Constitution.
The sub-committee 2, which is tasked to review Articles III, IV, VIIII, IX and XVII of the 1987 Constitution, has invited retired Supreme Court Justices Vicente Mendoza and Adolf Azcuna and representatives from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and the UP Law Center as resource persons in the hearing.
Deputy Speaker Fredenil Casto (2nd District, Capiz), chairman of the sub-committee 2, said the insights provided by the resource persons will enrich and guide the deliberations of the panel.
“As resource persons, you are free to discuss one, two or three or even all Articles (of the 1987 Constitution) within the coverage of this sub-committee because it is needed and important in drafting the new Constitution and needed by the country,” Castro said.
Rep. Reynaldo Umali (2nd District, Oriental Mindoro), chairman of the House committee on justice, pointed out that the country seems to be headed towards a federal system of government.
He said the current presidential bicameral system, which has been our form of government for a long time, has not been responsive to the country’s problems.
He stressed that if the country does not do anything about its system of government, change will not happen.
“I am always a change agent. I would like to look at approaches that will bring about change,” Umali said.
“Change is really necessary, and this is the opportune time to do it,” Umali said. “But then, we should learn our lessons from other countries under a federal system,” he also said.
Rep. Ariel Casilao (Party-list, ANAK PAWIS) raised the issues regarding the country’s readiness to adopt a federal system and the collective desire of the Filipino people to shift to federalism.
“We have witnessed the failure of political remedies, particularly the creation of the ARMM, which led eventually to the continuation of revolutionary forces existing in our country like the MNLF, MILF, and now they have evolve into many other groups,” Casilao said.
Rep. Vicente Veloso (3rd District, Leyte) raised various issues and problems confronting the judiciary and stressed that they should be addressed in drafting the new Constitution.
Rep. Tricia Nicole Velasco-Catera raised concerns on the best hierarchical system for the judiciary under a federal system.
In his presentation, retired Supreme Court Justice Mendoza said “there is a conceptual problem when you try to transform a unitary state like the Philippines into a federal system, for that will mean fragmenting or clustering ourselves into small groups, and then parcelling out the sovereign powers to these several groups, and then hoping, merely hoping because there is no certainty and no power on earth can command them, hoping that the several states will form a union into a federal system.”
“That is only a hope, but there is no certainty that it will happen. What will happen perhaps that granted sovereign powers into which this country will be divided. Some of these several states will go it alone. Some of them will probably become prey to our neighboring states, those which are weak and cannot maintain themselves. So that is the risk, conceptually and in reality. That might happen,” Mendoza said.
The IBP said it is still studying the proposed amendments and will create a special committee that will submit a position paper on the issue.
“The IBP is in favor of better autonomy for the local government units (LGUs) and decentralization of powers,” the IBP said.
Azcuna said the present 1987 Constitution has not been amended for more than 20 years and it is time to review it. (Congress)
