In the Philippines, house panel approves committee report and substitute bill on constitutional convention

A House of Representatives panel on [27 February] approved a committee report and substitute bill on the proposed congressional call for a convention to amend the 1987 Constitution. Voting 17-2, the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments green-lighted the call for a constitutional convention (con-con). With the approval, the panel will submit the bill to the Committee on Appropriations to create its funding provisions. The bill was meant to accompany a joint resolution by the House and Senate calling for a con-con. As of writing, the measure was still pending before the House plenary after it was approved on the committee level. Among the amendments in the approved resolution is a provision allowing the Senate President and House Speaker to appoint sectoral representatives to the con-con, comprising 20 percent of the convention's membership. With this, the judiciary, academe, legal profession, science and technology, labor, business, urban poor, and other sectors would have representation in the convention, as long as they belonged to the basic sectors prescribed by law. Delegates, whether appointed or elected, must be college graduates. The election of convention delegates would coincide with the Oct. 30, 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections; they would hold office from Nov. 21 to June 30, 2024.
Read the full article here: ABS-CBN News