Neither the House or the Committee on Constitutional Amendments can constitute itself as a Constituent Assembly in solitude.
A Constituent Assembly mandatorily entails the convening of the House and the Senate in joint session to propose amendments to the Constitution.
Resolution of Both Houses No. 2 proposing amendments to the economic provisions of the Constitution provides for a mongrelized process because it effectively authorizes the Congress to make amendments by legislation in violation of the limited amendatory procedure prescribed in Article XVII of the 1987 Constitution.
The solution to the rampant and senseless killings is not the re-imposition of the death penalty, which is a brutal violation of the right to life, a serious transgression of human rights, and a patent abandonment of our international commitments against imposing capital punishment, but the dismantling of the culture of violence which no less than the Duterte administration has encouraged, tolerated, and condoned.
Please refer to my press statement dated 18 December 2020, which I am restating as follows:
Whatever are the motives and whoever are the assailants, the rampant and brazen killings of lawyers, media practitioners, politicians, physicians, and ordinary citizens are the result of the culture of violence wittingly created by the Duterte administration.
No less than President Rodrigo Duterte himself in many recorded utterances has encouraged and condoned extrajudicial killings (EJKs).
The surge of red-tagging against progressive legislators and outspoken celebrities during the current budget season is calculated to maintain and secure more funds for the military’s campaign against perceived insurgents and terrorists.
