A constitutional convention after the 2010 elections

I HAVE said it before. If we are to change the 1987 Constitution, if we are to go through with it at all, the best option is through a constitutional convention. The Constituent Assembly is not an option because people don’t trust the politicians in Congress.

Trust is the key issue, and our people’s sad experience with politics gives them the conviction that no, we can’t leave the changing of the Constitution all up to Congress, especially in the hands of the House of Representatives whose present majority has shown an instinctive ability to put their own self-serving interests before the country’s. Just think of how they thrashed the impeachment complaints against Gloria Arroyo.

The Constituent Assembly mode may indeed be the more economical, more expedient way of changing the Constitution, but economical and expedient do not necessarily mean the best way; for in such a mode lies the danger of having like-minded, self-serving members of Congress engage in deliberations only with one another, for one another. The crafting of a new Constitution, which would be the embodiment of our people’s supreme ideals and aspirations, would be left in the hands of a handful of politicians whom people don’t trust to begin with. The irony is not funny at all.

Any attempt by these politicians to make amendments to the Constitution may result in the mangling of the entire Constitution. There’s the inherent danger of amendments taking a life of their own, resulting in the total overhaul of the Constitution, perhaps beyond what is necessary or what was initially intended. We already know that the GMA administration and its allies in Congress want a Constitution that would transform the political system into a parliamentary-federal setup. The urgency for the President to escape prosecution after her term is over warrants a full-court press to change the Charter so GMA could stay on in power.

That’s why given a choice right now, even if I’m against Charter change at this time because of the obvious intentions of this administration, I would rather that amendments be proposed through a constitutional convention, where the people can elect delegates in the 2010 election who could represent their interests in the new Charter. –Ernesto F. Herrera, Manila Times