Amending the constitution to allow the country to shift to a federal system of government will take years, former
Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. said on Saturday amid the acrimonious exchange of words between the Senate and House of Representatives whose members do not agree on how Charter change should be carried out.
Pimentel said members of the House and the Senate should hold joint deliberations but senators should vote separately.
Last week, the House adopted a resolution convening congress into a Constituent Assembly. However, senators said they will not participate in the House proceedings.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson filed a resolution calling on the Senate to convene as a Constituent Assembly to propose amendments to the Constitution.
In a news forum on Saturday, Pimentel agreed with senators that they should vote separately.
“Kailangan, ang suggestion ko, joint deliberation but voting separately sapagkat ang 24 na mga senador, malulunod sa tsunami ng 294 members of the House (My suggestion is that there should be joint deliberation but voting separately because the 24 senators will drown in the tsunami of 294 members of the House),” he said.
However, he admitted that the process of amending the Constitution will take years. “Palagay ko abutin pa ng mga two more years bago matapos ito (I thinkit will take two more years before the process is completed. The important thing is that the people must get to understand why thereis a need for a federal system,” Pimentel said.