Press Release July 8, 2016
Zubiri calls for election of 86 independent Concon delegates
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri has filed a bill calling for the election of 86 independent delegates to a Constitutional Convention (Concon) alongside the October 10 barangay polls. Zubiri said his still unnumbered bill is the answer to the growing public clamor for constitutional reform -- a clamor reinforced by the election of President Rodrigo Duterte who ran on a federalism platform. "There shall be an election of delegates to a Concon simultaneous with the holding of the October 2016 barangay elections," according to the senator's proposed Concon Act of 2016. "We are proposing to constitute a Concon of exactly 100 delegates -- one delegate from every province, or a total of 81 from all provinces, five delegates from the National Capital Region, plus 14 delegates to be appointed by the President," Zubiri said. The Concon is expected to complete the draft of a proposed new Constitution inside 36 months. Thereafter, the draft shall be submitted to the people for ratification in a plebiscite within 90 days. The proposed new Constitution shall become valid once ratified by a majority of the votes cast in the plebiscite. As proposed by Zubiri in his bill:
The bill proposes to earmark P5 billion for the Concon, which shall establish its own rules and regulations for the effective and efficient conduct of its purpose and proceedings. The measure specifies that except for the Supreme Court, no other court shall have jurisdiction to issue any restraining order or writ of preliminary injunction against the Concon, in any case or dispute arising from or necessary to, the application and enforcement of the provisions of the law that formed the convention. It also provides that a Concon delegate shall not be questioned nor held in any other place for any speech or debate in the convention or in any committee thereof, or in any public hearing conducted by the convention or any committee thereof. A Concon delegate shall, in all offenses punishable by not more than six years imprisonment, be privileged from arrest while attending the convention's session, and in going to and returning from the same. The Concon shall have the power to cite any person in direct or indirect contempt, and impose the appropriate penalties for contumacious conduct. |
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