ConCon to cost gov’t R2.6 B
By BEN R. ROSARIO, MB
The House of Representatives has discouraged proponents of a Constitutional Convention (ConCon) from pursuing the costly undertaking as a means of amending the 1987 Constitution.
With the government needing a minimum of R2.6 billion for the holding of elections for delegates alone, the chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations said congressmen are not expected to support it.
In a recent budget hearing, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) told the House panel it would need R2.681 billion to hold elections for delegates to a Constitutional Convention, should Congress choose it as the mode in revising the 1987 Constitution.
"At that price tag, ConCon is dead in the water," panel chairman Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. said after receiving the official Comelec estimate on the cost of a national poll to elect convention delegates.
Andaya noted that the figure the poll body submitted to Congress "covers election expense only and does not include money for the operations of the convention, allowances of the delegates, and salaries of the convention secretariat."
"Clearly, it’s a luxury we cannot afford. If money was coming out of our ears, then the idea of choosing delegates to rewrite the Charter would have been something worth pursuing," Andaya said.
Stressing that government is "broke," Andaya explained that the needed amount would further put stress on the government coffers which has yet to recover from a fiscal problem.
"Calling for a Constitutional Convention is like a family out on the streets throwing a banquet on credit," he said.
If ordered by law to supervise the elections for Constitutional Convention delegates, the Comelec said it would need R2.681 billion to ensure that 43,555,557 registered voters can vote in the 295,552 precincts nationwide.
The money would cover the preparation, printing, and distribution of ballots and electoral paraphernalia, the training and compensation of regular and deputized election officials and "other activities that would lead to a peaceful and orderly exercise."
But Andaya said the money would be better spent for the "schooling of our children and the care of our sick, aged, and infirm."
"With R2.68 billion, we can already build 6,700 classrooms, or pay for the salaries for 500 doctors for 10 years, hired at R40,000 month," he said. "The prohibitive cost of a ConCon is the nail on the coffin to the dream of electing citizens who will do the Charter rewrite," Andaya said.
Andaya said there was nothing wrong in allowing Congress, sitting as a Constituent Assembly, to propose revisions to the Constitution because the same Constitution grants Congress that prerogative.
"It is an inherent power of Congress. When you voted for your congressman, you were also voting for an official empowered under the law to tinker with the Constitution," he said.
The House of Representatives has discouraged proponents of a Constitutional Convention (ConCon) from pursuing the costly undertaking as a means of amending the 1987 Constitution.
With the government needing a minimum of R2.6 billion for the holding of elections for delegates alone, the chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations said congressmen are not expected to support it.
In a recent budget hearing, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) told the House panel it would need R2.681 billion to hold elections for delegates to a Constitutional Convention, should Congress choose it as the mode in revising the 1987 Constitution.
"At that price tag, ConCon is dead in the water," panel chairman Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. said after receiving the official Comelec estimate on the cost of a national poll to elect convention delegates.
Andaya noted that the figure the poll body submitted to Congress "covers election expense only and does not include money for the operations of the convention, allowances of the delegates, and salaries of the convention secretariat."
"Clearly, it’s a luxury we cannot afford. If money was coming out of our ears, then the idea of choosing delegates to rewrite the Charter would have been something worth pursuing," Andaya said.
Stressing that government is "broke," Andaya explained that the needed amount would further put stress on the government coffers which has yet to recover from a fiscal problem.
"Calling for a Constitutional Convention is like a family out on the streets throwing a banquet on credit," he said.
If ordered by law to supervise the elections for Constitutional Convention delegates, the Comelec said it would need R2.681 billion to ensure that 43,555,557 registered voters can vote in the 295,552 precincts nationwide.
The money would cover the preparation, printing, and distribution of ballots and electoral paraphernalia, the training and compensation of regular and deputized election officials and "other activities that would lead to a peaceful and orderly exercise."
But Andaya said the money would be better spent for the "schooling of our children and the care of our sick, aged, and infirm."
"With R2.68 billion, we can already build 6,700 classrooms, or pay for the salaries for 500 doctors for 10 years, hired at R40,000 month," he said. "The prohibitive cost of a ConCon is the nail on the coffin to the dream of electing citizens who will do the Charter rewrite," Andaya said.
Andaya said there was nothing wrong in allowing Congress, sitting as a Constituent Assembly, to propose revisions to the Constitution because the same Constitution grants Congress that prerogative.
"It is an inherent power of Congress. When you voted for your congressman, you were also voting for an official empowered under the law to tinker with the Constitution," he said.
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