SENATOR GUINGONA: ASK PEOPLE ON CON-CON MOVE

Senator Teofisto "TG" Guingona III today said the question of whether or not to call for a Constitutional Convention to tackle proposed changes to the 1987 Constitution "is a decision best left in the hands of the people."

Sen. Guingona jointly filed a resolution in the Senate with Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III which urged the members of Congress "to submit to the electorate the question of calling for a Constitutional Convention".

In Senate Resolution 1308, Senators Guingona and Pimentel also proposed that the election of delegates to a possible Constitutional Convention be done simultaneously with the May 2016 elections "to avoid incurring the added cost of a separate election."

"That depends, of course, if the electorate will clearly express a clamor and preference for the calling of a Constitutional Convention," Sen. Guingona underscored.

The resolution noted that "various business organizations and research groups have identified provisions in the 1987 Philippine Constitution that need to be revised to address expanding global demands, as well as, economic and political realities."

It also pointed out that "the calling of a Constitutional Convention to propose amendments to or revisions of the Constitution is the least divisive and the most transparent, exhaustive, and democratic way of achieving much-needed constitutional reforms."

The resolution also cited Article XVII, Section 3 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which provided that Congress can either directly call a constitutional convention by a vote of two-thirds of all its Members, or submit to the electorate the question of calling such a convention by a majority vote of all its Members.

Sen. Guingona said the resolution proposed the second option to "dispel any doubts that the Constitutional reforms are being sought to advance political and economic interests of a chosen few."