THE SANGGUNIAN is establishing the Constitutional Amendment Process (CAP), previously called the Constitutional Commission (Con-Com), as a means to amend the 2005 Sanggunian Constitution. This is to comply with the mandatory biennial review for possible amendments.
During the Sanggunian Central Board (CB) meeting held on November 29, Sanggunian Vice President Ryan Yu said that the Con-Com was renamed CAP because its former name had a “different connotation based on the constitution.”
Yu then proposed the rules for the general framework for CAP.
He proposed that CAP meetings to be held every Friday from 4:30 to 6:00 PM to make it more accessible to those who are unable to attend the 7:30 to 10:30 PM CB meetings. The CAP meeting will be counted as a separate CB meeting open to the public.
Yu also proposed that a “priority list” be agreed upon among the CB representatives to determine the order of constitutional amendments to be discussed. The CB members will then be asked to consult their constituents with regard to the amendments.
The deadline of the priority list will be set within the following week.
Proposed amendment process
Yu put forward a timeline of the amendment process to be implemented.
During the first week when the first amendment will be reviewed, the CB representatives will be given complete copies of the proposed constitutional changes.
Consultation with the student body will follow, where CB members will be asked to invite their constituents to attend the CAP meeting should they wish to go.
The succeeding week will be allotted for the discussion of amendments among the CB representatives. The results of the discussion will then be released to the student body within the same week.
On the third week, the CB representatives will vote whether or not an amendment should be passed to the Ateneo Commission on Elections (Comelec).
The following week will be allotted for the second amendment in the priority list, and the cycle of the amendment process will then continue.
Proposed cut-off date
Yu reiterated that the priority list matters because they proposed to make a “cut-off date” when all discussions of the amendments will be stopped.
The CB, in coordination with the Comelec, will determine the cut-off date.
The amendments approved by the CB will then be passed to Comelec representatives, who will then determine how to conduct the constitutional plebiscite.
As stated in the 2005 Constitution of the Undergraduate Students of the Ateneo de Manila Loyola Schools, “any such proposed amendments or revisions shall be ratified by a simple majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite.”
For the time remaining after the cut-off date, Yu said that the CB will publicize the contents of the discussions made with regard to the approved amendments forwarded to Comelec.
The other amendments that the incumbent CB representatives will be unable to discuss will be transitioned to the next CB.
Special assigned constituencies
To ensure that CAP meetings will be inclusive, Yu suggested that CB representatives be assigned to update organizations and other student groups about the progress on the constitutional change.
The special assignments will be added to the CB representatives’ existing constituencies.
Council of the Organizations in the Ateneo President Micha Aldea will be sending updates to the accredited organizations, while School of Humanities (SOH) Junior CB Representative Juno Reyes and School of Social Sciences (SOSS) Freshman CB Representative Sam Warren will be updating the unaccredited organizations.
Ateneo Resident Students Association President Von Cruz will be assigned to inform the dormers about the constitutional change discussions.
Meanwhile, SOH Freshman CB Representative Rocyl Sangalang and John Gokongwei School of Management (JGSOM) Junior CB Representative Maki De Jesus will be assigned to give updates to the athletic teams.
JGSOM Sophomore CB Representative Ray Gomez, SOSS Sophomore CB Representative Abbo Hernandez and JGSOM Freshman CB Representative Jared Sarmiento will be assigned to update the political formations.
