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Duterte’s bid to change our constitution is moving swiftly along several tracks

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News Commentary by Raïssa Robles

The House of Representatives is rushing to meet next month’s deadline to bring the change in the Philippine Constitution to a vote by May 2018.

Because the barangay elections are set to be held this May 14, this means Congress may have only until March 15—give or take a few days—to pass a law or resolution directing the holding of a plebiscite on charter change alongside the barangay polls.

This is because the Constitution states that a plebiscite to amend or revise the Constitution “shall be held not earlier than sixty days nor later than ninety days after the approval of such amendments or revision.”

I don’t exactly know now how Congress is supposed to calculate the number of days—whether it is supposed to count even the weekends or just the work days.

In calculating March 15 as THE DAY when the entire Congress should approve its proposed amendments and the holding of a plebiscite, I counted the weekends and even Holy Week. Plus, I assumed that Congress would not break on March 23, as scheduled.

But if it does break, and weekends and Holy Week are not counted, this could give Congress an even shorter lead time to approve charter change—probably by the first week of March.

Has Congress given up trying to pass charter change in time for the May polls?

No, not at all, at least in the House of Representatives. And contrary to the Business Mirror headline that the House is “about to give up” on its original plan to piggyback constitutional amendments with the barangay polls this May.

House Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia was quoted by the Business Mirror the other day as saying:

“The leadership of the House of Representatives has set the initial deadline in submitting the proposed Charter amendments in a plebiscite for approval of the Filipino people for May 2018, but acknowledged that it may be extended if Congress cannot meet the requirements of the law. In that case, the plebiscite may be held simultaneously with the May 2019 elections. As such, the May 2019 elections will push through as scheduled,” she said.

“Our deliberations [on the proposed Cha-Cha] at the committee level might take longer period of time…so it [the May 2018 plebiscite target] might not be a realistic target to reach,” Garcia added.

House about to give up on May 2018 target for Charter change plebiscite

This simply shows the House is intent on charter change. Don’t be fooled by what Garcia says. The House, in the past, has been able to do lightning approvals of bills and resolutions.

Remember, this is a Congress that has already shown it is capable of doing anything regardless of what the Constitution says.

Take the impeachment of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. The House is in effect acting as a quasi impeachment court through its prolonged deliberations on the “substance” of the impeachment complaint. Some congressmen even have the effrontery to demand Sereno’s appearance and threaten arrest if Sereno − who heads a co-equal body − fails to appear.

Going back to Cha-Cha, if Congress fails to meet the March deadline, it can always postpone the barangay polls or approve a stand-alone plebiscite for later this year. Money is no object. It’s not theirs anyway.

Sereno impeachment is part of the game plan

Yesterday, House Justice Committee chair Reynaldo Umali signaled that his committee would put Sereno’s impeachment to a vote by this month.

Despite the absence of culpable violation of the Constitution, Sereno is likely to be impeached because the Duterte allies in the House have the numbers.

After she is impeached, she will be pressured to resign or at least take a leave of absence as chief justice.

Why does the Duterte government need Sereno out of the way?

During the Sereno impeachment hearings, one of the associate justices who appeared pointed out that it is the chief justice who sets the agenda as to which cases should be tackled by the court en banc.

With Sereno neutralized, an acting chief justice might be persuaded to give high priority to the constitutional question of whether the House or the Senate should vote separately or jointly on charter change.

I have been watching the Sereno impeachment hearings in fascination. I will write about it separately.

Too many cooks of charter change

Ever wonder what is wrong with the picture of House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Senate President Koko Pimentel meeting publicly to resolve the two chamber’s differences on charter change?

I can think of one. Both belong to the same PDP-Laban Party. At the very least, you would expect them to have JUST ONE DRAFT OF PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES.

But they don’t.

The proposed amendments that the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments is pushing has marked differences to what the Federal Institute of the PDP Laban Party has drafted and is pushing. And which Senate President Pimentel is backing.

I would just like to point out two key differences but there are others.

ONE. In the “Salient Features” of the proposed constitutional changes that the House Committee released, there is NO TERM OF OFFICE AND TERM LIMIT indicated for members of both the Federal Assembly and the Senate.

What does this mean? Once elected, their tenure could go on FOREVER.

The PDP-Laban version sets two five-year terms for an assemblyman and senator.

TWO. Another key difference is that the House Committee version is silent on political dynasties.

But the PDP-Laban version has a definite self-executing ban on political dynasties. It bans relatives up to the second degree from running together for national office, or for local (federal) office. This means you cannot have mother and daughter, father and son or sister and brother together in Parliament.

Neither the House of Representatives nor PDP-Laban has released an entire draft.

The House Committee has only released to the public “SALIENT FEATURES” of its proposed Parliament and Federal structure.

PDP Laban Party has put online its 67-page proposed Constitution, labeled “Version 1.7 as of 31 August 2017”. But it is not downloadable. You can read it below:

http://iag.org.ph/index.php/news/1506-read-pdp-laban-proposed-constitution-of-the-federal-republic-of-the-philippines

But this has one key section missing: Article XVIII or the Proposed Transitory Provisions. A footnote (135) on the last page (67) simply states that the section is still “under study”.

As I said in an earlier piece, the Transitory Provisions are very, very important because they spell out what will happen during the period when the 1987 Constitution is thrown to the wastebasket but the new Constitution is not yet fully in effect. You can read my piece by clicking on the link below.

My warning about Charter Change extending Duterte’s term and giving him authoritarian powers was confirmed today

I called it “the twilight zone” when the incumbent President Duterte holds all the powers and can do anything. Anything, including delaying the opening of the planned interim legislature and abolishing it outright.

Which was what Ferdinand Marcos did.

Why did Duterte appoint a 25-member Constitutional Commission on top of what Congress is doing?

I’m guessing—for several reasons.

First, the Commission can embed certain changes that Duterte wants. Recall that two other presidents also formed a Con-Com to come up with a draft charter: Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

It was no surprise that both Estrada and Arroyo’s draft charters abolished term limits for the President and the legislators.

Second, Con-Com is meant to confuse the public into thinking that charter change won’t take place for some time. I believe Duterte wants cha-cha asap.

Third, Con-Com can help Congress flesh out a complete draft.

But cha-cha does not end even if Congress fails to approve charter change.

Two other options are still open and still in play—a nationwide declaration of martial law which Duterte can use to get the public to ratify a new charter in a plebiscite.

And last but not least, a revolutionary government.

We are not out of the woods yet.

In fact, we are neck deep in the woods.

Comments

  2. Let us turn out for the 32nd anniversary celebration of the People Power Revolution at EDSA. In a million if possible. Frustrate Digong’s dictatorial designs. Show him People Power is still very much alive to send him and his gang running with their tails between their legs.

    • it’s not just duterte now, it’s the menacing chinese military garrison in the reef and what they can do to us that we have to consider seriously.

      people power need to step up and up the ante as making noise and massing in droves may not be enough. unlike marcos, duterte et al may not run at all, but ‘wither’ the storm in comfort and luxury.

      after all, our military under lorenzana, kapolisan under bato and almost all those in power are in cahoots with duterte. they’ll probly just laugh at our people power, enjoy all our shouts, happy to see us tire ourselves and sleeping well despite our nightmares.

      • steadfast as steadfast goes and attend edsa’s 32nd anniversary! invoke the courage and spirit of the past, feel the dismay of the dismayed, and pray for what we shall be in the future.

        and be prepared to give more than we are prepared to give for more might be needed. be prepared to go where our forebears have gone before, only this time, much further.

    • IT IS TIME…

      We have the power to change our Philippine reality,,,we did it before,,,we can do it again,,,at heart Filipinos are warriors..it is time to bring out the heart of a warrior in each one of us…to reject at this moment Duterte with all his minions and threats and intimidation and killings and corruption and decay is everyone’s Godgiven right…we have the whole international community behind us…get him out of Malacanang now…

      • I’m calling po for the 25 or the 19 consulting team given the job of dismantling the constitution to walk out now, reject the offer and dont be part of duterte’s federalism fiasco.

        birthing federalism and killing democracy should not be done under this crazy administration so lacking in morals, beholden to china and heavily reliant on fake news and misinformation.

        • Yes..
          It’s time to walk out of government positions being used as tools of du30 and gang to protect their vested interests in the Executive,Legislative and Judiciary…

  3. I am keeping my fingers crossed and wait for the recommendation of the Consultative Committee/Commission that DU30 created. Initially they said that it will take about six months before they can come up with their recommendations. (Sadly DU30 may just set aside that recom).

    On the other hand, when the Local Government Code of 1991 was enacted we already have a semblance of federalism. Some national government functions were devolved to the LGUs however not much of the resources were devolved. Even the IRA (internal revenue allotment) sharing favors the national government yet it demands much from the LGUs.

    Congress failed to review and make amendments (except for some minor provisions) which they are mandated to do so every five years such that the ball or carrot and stick is still in the hands of the national government.

    Had congress did their job of reviewing the LG Code as mandated, LGUs specially the poorer ones would have been functioning well with more power, resources and autonomy.

    • who knows? maybe, ginapang na ni duterte ang 25 consultants, plied them with gifts, money and promises of future good jobs that’ll set them up for life. give me what I want or else! and speak bisaya! ihatag ang gusto nako, kung dili, gustong nyong mapriso! patyon ta gyud mo! lugawon ta gyd mo! I’ll eat you! or something like that. he, he, he.

      duterte should just sign bank waiver, instead of hiding behind federalism.

      • di ba, majority of the 25 are sympathizers of pdp-laban party? if so po, pro-duterte ang recomm nila.

    • Since the Constitution will be
      subjected for revision, the
      Comttee formed headed by
      Ex-CJ Puno and et. al., should
      not forget, among others,

      a complete provision prohibiting
      DYNASTY in the law, and

      No Double Jeopardy rule when it
      comes to criminal cases against
      ALL public officials, current or
      retired, etc. This DJ is abused by
      everyone as aided by our courts.

      If at all possible, the burden of proof
      on criminal cases against all public
      officials should be ‘presumed guilty’
      and each as accused has to prove his/her
      innocence. Etc.

      Why not?

  4. FEDERALISM – SHORT-CUT WAY FOR BONGBONG MARCOS TO RE-OCCUPY MALACANANG AND FULFILL DUTERTE’S PROMISE TO THE MARCOSES

    “A shift to a federal system will weaken our republic, fragment our nation and render at moot the many years we have spent to attain national unity. This country will be fragmented by such an attempt and there will be attempts at cessation.” said retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Vicente Mendoza during the recent senate hearing on the proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution.

    From unitary to parliamentary system comprising the 12 regions, the autonomous regions including the bangsamoro, etc., wherein each region will elect their assemblymen who in turn will elect among themselves the prime minister of the country. Any assemblyman with billions of dollars in his pocket can finance party mates nationwide who’ll support the financier for the top post in the country.

    The sinister or self-serving plots of the PDP-LABAN to perpetuate themselves in power can be rendered futile with a resounding NO to the forthcoming plebiscite thru incessant and continuous posts in facebook, twitter, etc

    Ex-SC Justice –
    http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/02/01/1783589/ex-sc-justice-federalism-will-weaken-nation

    • the plebiscite is another jet ski in the making. I think, we should all boycott the plebiscite.

      no bank waiver, no plebiscite. no bank waiver, no plebiscite. no bank waiver, no plebiscite. . .

      • we should bear in mind that our resounding no sa plebiscite can be futile exercise. the result of the plebiscite can be faked: tweaked. no can easily be made yes: a resounding no turned into a resounding yes, and outstandingly so.

        duterte et al, the marocses and the whole of the pdp-laban party have all the resources, the means and the influences to do it. their bots and trolls are on standby, the chinese in benham rise are also on standby ready to sprung. they can all cook the result of the plebiscite.

        so, give them nothing to cook. boycott plebiscite!

        no bank waiver, no plebiscite.

        • of course duterte et al and the hakot will win, natural lang yan. but then, I will have the pleasure of shouting at all thier faces that I did not play a part in the bastardization of the constitution. that they did not get any vote from me whatsoever to turn my country into a shithole! he, he, he.

          if only 16million voted sa plebiscite and the rest stayed in their homes and did not turn up to vote, then I can happily laugh and say, I as non- voter, it was not my fault pinas is new shithole of asia. I have no blood on my hands!

          duterte et al can celebrate victory as much as they like, and I’ll be celebrating too. their happiness and celebration is not complete without the participation of the silent non voters and I and maybe the non voters too, will always be tinik in their side, always questioning and making life uncomfortable for them. uncooperative at laging nangungulimbat at salungat sa mga kapalpakan nila, laging mangungutya, laging walang tiwala, laging, laging, laging.

          I’m not afraid of failure! I will boycott the plebiscite. they will just have to drag me out of my hovel and force me to vote at gun point and still I will draw only a smiling carabao on the ballot paper! he, he, he.

        • and you know what? most probly my illegal vote, the smiling carabao on the ballot paper, will be counted as yes vote. any notation sa ballot paper will be considered as vote yata. luma na at few years old na yang smartmatic and with the recent emergence of iots, internet of things, any notation sa ballot paper could well be electronically read as vote, a yes vote most likely.

          kaya, on 2nd thought, if forced to vote, I’ll forget the carabao and spit on the ballot paper instead. if not, iihian ko yang ballot paper, while singing ikaw at the top of my voice, my regards to federalism.

        • yeah, yah, yab, I can well be jailed for being obstructive, but then, jails are made for men. nelson mandela was jailed once, ninoy aquino as well, same with dr jose rizal. if I’m jailed, my family will be crying on the outside, laughing on the inside: happy, I’m out of their hands! hurrah! they’ll probly pack my things in no time at all! off you go, arc. and they’ll visit me in jail just to make sure I did not escape.

        • kalahari, now that dating cj hilario davide ‘knows’ that federalism is leap to hell, I wonder what his next action will be.

        • Boycotting the plebiscite will not derail Federalism and ChaCha. It is tantamount to giving Duterte and his PDP-Laban gang a carte blanche to effectuate Federalism as they wish. We have to vote down Federalism by casting a resounding NO vote and ensuring that our vote is counted accurately. If they cheat us, the People Power na!!

        • if nobody turns up sa polling day, duterte et al has no votes to count. victory denied. duterte et al can declare a win by default and that would be a very questionable victory, a hollow one without the blessing of the whole nation. a victory without true legitimacy.

        • people power has worked before. today is different and unlike the time of cory aquino, masyadong militarized na ang reef ngayon. china’s spy hub is right in our doorstep, may mga super radars installed duon. those super radars are already operational and can do almost anything. using ultra modern technology and even from a distance, china can easily railroad the result of the plebiscite, to the pleasure of pdp-laban party.

          but voters still must be seen to be voting and going to polling booths, then trolls and chinese bot army will do the rest. it does not matter how voters vote, it’s their actual physical presence that trolls and chinese bot army are counting on.

          nagbago na ang mundo at iba na talaga ang panahon ngayon.

          if people power is to be used again, it will be to boycott the plebiscite in mass.

        • at plebiscite polling day, it’ll probly be a sight to see people being dragged out from their homes and forced to vote at gun point!

          world media will have a fright unprecedented!

  5. over a bottle of suntory, me and my friends talked about the coming plebiscite.

    what plebiscite? my friends have the sweetest dumb laughs on this side of the treble lunar phenomena, the blue moon, the super moon, and the blood moon. sabi, whatever the result of the plebiscite, it will always be – yes. de bale na kung a resounding no overwhelm the yes by the megatrons, the result will always be a yes.

    I dropped my frosted glass of suntory! stunned that this could well be the reality. coz most of those people kuno pushing for cha cha, the super majority of them pushing for cha cha, have no respect for almost anything, the law, due process, much less the plebiscite result. they wont bother kuno, or waste time kuno, rigging the plebiscite. when the day comes, the result will be released and it’ll be – a yes – and that’s it! no communication entered into. no recount, no resolute nothing.

    and here we are, still kidding ourselves that our votes counts.

    so, over spilled drinks, bleary eyes and slurred speeches, my friends suggested that the best pangontra would be to put tro sa plebiscite and stop the plebiscite from happening. or, to firmly ask that duterte sign bank waiver in exchange for people going to plebiscite.

    no bank waiver, no plebiscite.

  6. We must do everything possible to make sure the coming plebiscite vote is a resounding “NO!” Same with the plebiscite after that…& the one after that & the one after that. That’s one of the great evils of the plebiscite system–the determined & self-interested can make people vote on rephrasings of the same issue (the more complicated the better) until finally one day we vote the way they want.

    But I want to return to the “We” & the “everything possible” part. By we, I mean anyone who doesn’t want to live under a pro-Chinese, dynastic trapo-federalist dictatorship.

    By “everything possible,” I mean being willing to set aside political parties, regional & religious blocks, families, clans, tribes, affinity groups to focus on a resounding “No to Cha-Cha” vote. I mean, suspending for this issue’s episode our Rightist or Leftist or Centerist or Neoliberal or Nationalist ideologies. Of, in this one case, letting go of cultural bias for or against the masa or the elite, of abandoning theories of “damaged culture,” “bobotantes,” “media literacy,” “addictions to patronage” and any other cultural or sociological critique in favor of this ONE THING: “A resounding ‘NO’ vote on the Cha-Cha plebiscite.”

    Because:

    If we DO NOT do anything & everything it takes, that plebiscite may be the last free, fair democratic election many of us will see I our lifetimes.

    If we end up with a Constitution that allows a pro-Chinese, dynastic trapo-federalist dictatorship into power, the above nuances of opposition won’t matter much anyway.

    • agree! agree! agree! vote no sa plebiscite. these people forcing us to plebiscite are bad people keen to carve up and cut and paste pinas, reorganize pinas when they cannot even organize themselves without resorting to fake news, misinformation, telling lies, twisting the truth and sending to jail those that question them. the unlucky ones are killed.

      these bad people have no better way of solving problems except creating more problems kaliwat’t kanan na, overwhelming taumbayan with even more problems, nagugulahan na tayo. tama na. stop na. no more of their shenanigans, no to their plebiscite, vote no and vote no again dahil these people will not stop at just one no. they will try and try again, force us, ram us and have us in a choke hold, each time spending more and more money our country can barely afford. money down the drain just to feed the huge egos of congress and their immeasurable hunger for power and wealth and riches. all for them and zero (budget) for us.

      vote no to plebiscite!

      I strongly believe these people should not be given the almighty knife to carve up pinas, should not be given the right to cut and paste pinas and with it our dearest constitution shred to bits and pieces. sabi, they will retain the good portion of the constitution kuno, but these people cannot be trusted. they make fake news! and what is good portion to them, might well be the death of our dreams, the loss of our dignity, further erosion of our living standard and the slavery of our children. already, these bad people are not listening to us. so keen to play with our live and gamble our nation. well, let us not play their game.

      vote no sa plebiscite!

    • manilamac will vote NO.

      arc says ‘agree agree and agree’ to vote NO

      I will vote NO kasi haba ng draft 67 pages at
      walang Transitory Provisions at
      apurahan pa ang pag submit for approval.

      Don’t Let 5 Million tangingut votes win by boycotting the
      plebiscite.

      VOTE NO to cha-cha.

      • fersty, pls consider the ultra chinese spy hub in the reef, complete with super radars. they also have eyes in the sky, the drones and the satellites. they can see us, but we cannot see them. at sa isang iglip, they can easily rout smartmatic, changing data and turning no votes into yes votes. but in order not to rouse suspicion, they’ll make it appear that yes votes is majority, that yes votes won, kahit hindi. and backed by fake news and misinformation na ikakalit nina mocha et al, democracy will be killed by federalism.

        kaya, I’ve decided not to have any part in killing democracy, and will boycott the plebiscite.

  7. Yes, if Congress fails to pass cha-cha

    PRRD might go for martial law nationwide

    but without support from the citizen it
    will fail, the same with revogov’t.

    PRRD will be ‘in the woods’ and not the
    people who is always be there and PRRD
    not.

    If Marcos’ regime took about 20 years to
    topple him down,

    this time it will be very much shorter, SHORTER!

    Time: 3-4 weeks or a few months less than 6.

    The Liberal Party will be back in power.

    The Balimbing Tree will again bear fruits.

    Or just flip-flops if one cannot be a balimbing fruit.

    What is the scariest? The Military takes over.

    Hard and fast rule reigns.

    Do Not Allow The Military To Take Over

    • guys, for a start, the president has already appointed 25 member constitutional commission and if the 25 are receiving pay or being paid by duterte himself, the 25 are already compromised, know what I mean?

  8. what can we do now..Reting ofDuterte is excellent..My God please intervene on this bad plan of duterte administration..

    • those at congress ought to know that if the constitution is changed, our form of gov is changed to federalism as well, and those at congress get to remain on thier jobs maybe forever and rake in higher salaries for the rest of their lives, they can think again. this is all just a smoke screen for underneath it all, china is working to gain most of pinas. and once pinas in under full chinese control, those at congress can kiss their jobs goodbye. they’ll probly be taken over by new chinese appointees who are better sipsip than them, better at undercutting too. salaries will have to be renegotiated. alam mo naman ang chinese, they want something for next to nothing. so, those higher salaries envisaged ng mga congressmen natin ngayon can go like a puff of smoke, zero salary in a minute. or face death and execution. infamously, china has no respect for human rights.