CEBU CITY–Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has proposed to President Rodrigo Duterte the creation of a Constitutional Commission that will study and draft the proposed amendments to the Constitution to pave way for changing the form of government into federal system.
The Concom should be formed through an executive order since Congress would be preoccupied with the 2017 annual budget.
In a speech before the oath-taking of about 300 Cebu officials as new members of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), the Concom may be composed of 25 persons appointed by the President who may be experts on Constitutional Law such retired justices and deans of law schools.
Among them could be retired Chief Justice Renato Puno and former Cebu City Rep. Antonio Cuenco.
Alvarez said that the commission may start working next month after the issuance of an executive order.
In an interview after the oath-taking, Alvarez said he wanted the commission to start in September but admitted that it would depend on how soon the EO would be signed by President Duterte.
He said he was drafting a proposed EO that he planned to submit to Mr. Duterte next week.
If his time-table would be followed, he added, Congress may be able to convene into a Constituent Assembly which would receive the final draft of the Concom.
Once Congress has finished studying the draft of the commission, he said the Congress as a Constituent Assembly would come out with a final draft.
The final draft would be presented through a plebiscite during the midterm election in 2019, said Alvarez.
After the draft was approved, he added the remaining three years of the Duterte administration would serve as transition period.