ARTHUR Aguilar, lone Negrense member of the Consultative Committee (ConCom) tasked by President Rodrigo Duterte to amend the 1987 Constitution, clarified that the proposed draft of the federal charter will now depend on the decision of the Congress, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
"The decision about our Constitution lies in the Congress. It also depends on the president on how he exercises his political will and leadership," Aguilar said.
Aguilar said that the 22-member ConCom has already finished their jobs after they submitted the draft on federalism government to Duterte.
The Senate and the House of Representatives have not yet resolved the issue that they transform into a Constitutional Assembly whether they will vote separately or they will vote jointly.
The Senate opposes to the proposal that they will jointly vote for the amendments due to that fact that they are outnumbered.
There are only 24 senators while there are 296 congressmen.
Aguilar, meanwhile, explained that under the federal form of government, the regional governors will be elected by the members of the regional assembly that will be composed of one representative per province and one also for every major political party.
The regional governor will be the coordinator of all the budgets and programs which is the function of the National Government under the present system, he said.
Manila's power will only be on policy but the implementation of the projects and the funds will be with the regional governors, Aguilar explained.
The regional governors will distribute the projects to the provincial governors.
As to the number of congressmen, Aguilar said that the composition of the House of Representatives will be 40 percent from the political parties and the rest are representatives of the districts.
Every 400,000 voters will be entitled to one district representative.
Aguilar said that the party-list system will be abolished under the new Constitution.
