After its clash with the House of Representatives on the haphazardly-crafted bill on Maharlika Investment Fund, senators are now colliding with the lower chamber on the proposed hybrid constitutional convention for altering the 1987 Constitution, which proposes a budget of P10,000 per day for each of Concon delegate, the choice of delegates and representatives, and its principal purpose not of amending economic provisions but of perpetuating themselves in power through longer, if not removal of, term limits.
Senators on Tuesday rejected a House proposed bill to change the 1987 Charter through a hybrid constitutional convention, saying it is too expensive.
“This will surely eat up what little funds we have for other government programs and projects and may also prevent us from achieving our goal of having less than 60 percent debt-to-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio by 2025,” Senate Majority Leader Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva told Business World.
Congress should consider the cost, which could reach P28 billion based on estimates of the National Economic and Development Authority.
The House Tuesday passed on second reading a bill detailing the procedures for Chacha through a hybrid constitutional convention (con-con).
Iloilo City Rep. Lorenz R. Defensor proposed that only economic provisions of the Constitution be changed. But earlier the bill consolidator, Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said if people ask for it, there is no stopping including even political amendments.
Under the substitute bill convention members will both be elected and appointed. Delegates of the convention, which will run Nov. 21 to June 30, 2024, will get a P10,000 daily salary and will be entitled to travel allowance.
The government needs P9.5 billion to amend the Charter, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez told a hearing last week after talking to election officials.
The election of delegates will cost P1.5 billion if done simultaneously with village elections, while the budget for the convention itself will cost P5 billion, he said. The plebiscite will cost P3 billion.
Senator Sonny Angara, head of the finance committee, called the hybrid con-con “the most expensive and laborious option to revise the Constitution.” He also said the salaries are too high.
“Those currently seated shouldn’t be beneficiaries, especially in the extension of one’s term, should there be any,” he said.
Senator Robin C. Padilla, who earlier pushed for chacha to amend economic provisions through a constituent assembly, frowned at the House proposal.
“First, we don’t have money to have an election,” he said in Filipino, according to a transcript sent by his office. “There will even be new provisions on salary, we don’t have that. Will we have to borrow money again?”
Padilla, who heads the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, said he expects a deadlock if amendments focus on political provisions. Congress, he added, should focus on economic provisions.
Padilla said people need “work, food on their dinner table, salary.” He said he is open to holding his own hearings on the issue.
“We in the Senate can’t just rely on the House of Representatives public hearings, so we will also hold our own public hearings,” he said. “Should I be convinced, for example, by the people that they are prepared for the con-con, then I will adopt it.”
Senator Risa Hontiveros called chacha a major distraction that will only sideline urgent issues.
“We should do away with this long-standing tale of make-believe that Charter change will solve all our problems. We don’t need that right now,” she said.
“Let’s face the reality that inflation, poverty and corruption are the pressing issues that need to be addressed with aggressive political will and focus,” she said.
Hontiveros said spending a large sum on chacha would only do more damage.
Sen. Nancy Binay said changing economic provisions of the Charter is not needed since these have been addressed by recent amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, Public Services Act and Foreign Investments Act. “It is better to prioritize their implementing rules and regulations than to push Cha-cha.”
Senior Minority Leader Paul R. Daza, who voted against the measure, said a concon takes longer than a constituent assembly, which he supports.