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wm[EsoAl FEBRUARY 2Z 2ol9

Is charter change the game changer


in the next Congress?
(First of two pqrts) House of Representatives, Congress could
/A n f8 Japuary 2019, three days be- SLt}EBB&NU have started to exercise its constituent porr-
DIANAJ. MENDOZA
I la* rhe January zl,20t9 plebiscite ers to propose amendments to the 1987 Con-
\-/ for lhe Bangsamoro Organic Law stitution by December 12, 2006.
@OL), PresidentRod go R. Duterte alluded We may find some hints from the Between 2007 and 2015, calls for char-
to pursuing cha-rter change once the BOL ter change were muted or silenced, deliber-
is ratified. If ratified the BOL creates the electoral acrobatia taking place right
ately or otherwise, and temporariiy tabled
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Mus- now for the l3 May 2019 midterm or shelved. Charter change, aimed at either
lim Mindanao (BARMM) and replaces the elections. shifting to a parliamentary form of go!€rn-
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao mentoi amending the economicprovi.ions in
(ARMM). Now that the BOL was ratified Initiative for Reform, Modernization and Ac- the 1987 Philippine Constitution, or shilting
on 25 January, the pati to charter change tion (PIRYA), the organizatiorr supporting to a fedemi system, was not a prio ty agelda
seems clear.Is it oris it not? charter chaage tluough a people's initiative, of the government. It seemed that Ariol'o
While the arswer to the questions remain was launched in Decenrber of tlat year. Thrce had "given up" her ambition to become the
obscure, we may find some hints from the morths later, howeve! the Supreme Cqlrt Prime Minister had the House succeeded in
electoral acrobatics taking place right now uranimouslyreroked the petition bf irf nMAior December 2006. The next Presidenl, Benigio
for the 13 May 2Ol9 midterm elections. But a peoplet initiatire for lackofar enabling law. Aquino III, onthe other hand, was simplJ,not
Ietus focus on the Senate race. In 1999, an amendment to the Constitution interested in extending his term ofoffice.
We focus on the Senate not because tie pas introduced, aimed at removing restric- Attempts at charter change were resur-
House of Representatives is irrelevart or in- tions on foreign ownership on land, public rected after Dulerle won the presidenr-] in
significan t, but because we know from e4)eri- utilitieq schools, mass medi4 mining firms, 2016. Determinedto change the governrnent
ence ard the latter chambe/s political history and advertising agencies. The Constitutional into afederal system as he promisedr-hen he
about its membershipt propensity to $avitate Couection for Development (Concord) was ran for the presidency, Duterte created the
towards tJre president-elecfs party arrd agenda created to push for th6lifting of restrictions 25-member Consultative Committee (Con-
evel in cases where the incumbent president on the foreign ownership of business- Con- Com) tasked to reviewthe I9STConstitution .
belongs to t}Ie "minorityparty." The Senatg on Cord did noi only fail but its mastermind was on December Z 2016 through Executive
the other hand. has significan I ly played the ac- ousted from the presidency due to strong Order No. 1O but whose rvork commer,ced
tive presidenfs opposer or resister on critical opposition from the Catholic Church. more than a year later.
issues including that of charter change. Another attempt at a people's initiative On 9 July 2018 the President received the
With seven senators eyeing reelection came in 2006. The Unio of Local Authori- draft Federal Constitution from the Consu lta
(four of them allied to the President), seven ties of the Philippines ard Sigaw ng Bayan tive Committee. Former chiefjustice Re:-nato
former senators aiming to return to the undertook a people's initiative petition. Puno, Con-Com Head. described the draft
chamber (at least three are political allies of The Supreme Court, however, ruled against Federal Constitution during the turnorer
the President or his daughter Mayor Sarah its legality in November 2006. Meanwhile, ceremony as seeLing to "estatrlish a distinct
Duterte), and eight opposition contend- major political parties in the House rnajor- federalism irl our country a bayanihan
ers amoDg 62 senatorial candidates, what ity coalition created a multipaty working federalism (that is) strong enough to hold
are Lhe charces of charter change gaining group to finalize the proposed amendments togetheT the vadous federated regions and
ground and supported in the ne)d philippine to the 1987 Constitution. The amendments establishes federated regions that are sociallr,;
Congress? Will charter change be the game included the shiftfrom the presidential form economically aad politically viable and sus,
changer in the next Philippine Congress? of government to the parliamentary forrn, tainable." The draft constitution also bamed
Will the Senate remain aDti-charter change? and from the bicameral to aunicameral one. political dynasties and political turncoatisr'::-
First, we step back to examine the past A month later, the House of Representa- Charter change under Duterte took an
charter change attempts and horv the Sen- tives appioved House Resolution No. 167 ugly turn when the Speaker of the House,
ate opposed and reduced these into futile coD!'ening Congress into a constitueDt as- Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came up qith her
efforts of self-serving incumbeDts. Second, sembly. The plarl of t}le House bajority co- own chartel change propo:a.. the Resoi.u-
we examine how the midterm elections may a.IitioD \ras to har-e ke!' aiqendments to the tion of Both Houses (RBII) lJ. It\}-.Ix ect th.
impact on the power/party confrguration CoDstitutioB approved before Congress took first time thatArroyo "m"-.terminded- chai-
in the Senate and, consequently, the fate of a Cbrishnas recess, a plebiscite by February ter change in the countrJ'. The ]'ear 2006
charter change inthe Philippines. and a new parliamentary government and
t'l* wituessed three futile attempts at charter
constitutiotr by the end of2OOZ change by the.trro!'o administration includ-
CHARTER CHANGE NOT NEW II1 an attempt to hastel the process, the ing the creatioD of the Consultative Com-
a-,\ Charter change is not new, as it dates back to Howe approved alother resolution amending mission to study the 1987 Constitution aid
the Marcos regime in the early 1970s. In tle its own rules. The rcsolution provided for the propose amendments to it.
post-Marcos er4 as early as 1989 barelytwo deletiol of that specific section in the House
- The passage of RBH 15 at the House of
+ and a half years after the 1987 Constitution Rules of the Thirteenth Con$ess tiat states: Representatives after three session days
\J was approved in a plebiscite
- calls for con- ?roposals to arnend or revise the Constitution spent for plenary debates becomes Arroyo's
,s stitutional change gained momentum and
received much media attention. The failed
shall be by resolution which may be filed at arry
time by any member. The adoption of resolu-
other major coup after she successfullytook
over the Speakership in July 2018. RBH
t December 1989 coup had, in part, triggered
the disclssion on constitutional change.
tions proposing amendments to, or revision of,
the constitution shall follorv the procedute for
15 contained the House's proposed d!aft
constitution that \rould shift the country
In 1991, the House of Representatives ad- the enactment ofbills. The resolution was in- to federalism alld tampered \rith Duterte's
opted a 'nenimgqs lesolution endorsing the tended to b!?ass the three-reading procedrue CoD-Com s draft Federal Constitution by
shift to a parliamentary form of go!-errmenL in each chamber of Congress that is follon ed -emo\ing term:jnut: aici ;.:1.s prohrb::ing
Had the Seaate agreed to i! tie shift Fould for tie eral.-tloedt of anJi Ia\I'- pr:li.ie.1 c1'=-.'-:es,

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