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Wednesday, October 15, 1986

CALL TO ORDER

At 8:55 a.m., the Honorable Francisco A. Rodrigo, called the session to order.

ROLL CALL

Upon direction of the Chair, the Secretary-General of the Commission called the Roll and the following Members responded:

Alonto, A. D.	Nieva, M. T. F.
Aquino, F. S.	Nolledo, J. N.
Azcuna, A. S.	Ople, B. F.
Bacani, T. C.	Padilla, A. B.
Bengzon, J. F. S.	Rama, N. G.
Bennagen, P. L.	Regalado, F. D.
Bernas, J. G.	De los Reyes, R. F.
Rosario Braid, F.	Rigos, C. A.
Calderon, J. C.	Rodrigo, F. A.
De Castro, C. M.	Romulo, R. J.
Colayco, J. C.	Sarmiento, R. V.
Davide, H. G.	Suarez, J. E.
Foz, V. B.	Sumulong, L. M.
Garcia, E. G.	Tan, C.
Gascon, J. L. M. C.	Treñas, E. B.
Guingona, S. V. C.	Uka, L. L.
Jamir, A. M. K.	Villacorta, W. V. W.
Laurel , J. B.	Villegas, B. M.
Monsod, C. S.

 With 37 Members present, the Chair declared the presence of a quorum.

The following Members appeared after the Roll Call:

Abubakar, Y. R.	Natividad, T. C.
Concepcion, R. R.	Quesada, M. L. M.
Lerum, E. R.	Tadeo, J. S. L.
Maambong, R. E.	Tingson, G. J.

Mr. Rosales was sick.

REOPENING OF THE CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION NO. 551 ON THE APPORTIONMENT ORDINANCE

Upon request of Mr. Rama, the Chair recognized Mr. Davide, Chairman of the Committee on the Legislative.

Thereupon, at the instance of Mr. Davide, there being no objection, the Body reopened the consideration of Resolution No. 551, entitled:

RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR AN ORDINANCE TO BE APPENDED TO THE NEW CONSTITUTION APPORTIONING THE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CONGRESS OF THE PHILIPPINES TO THE DIFFERENT LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS IN PROVINCES AND CITIES AND THE METROPOLITAN AREA.

Mr. Davide then invited attention to the session of Monday, October 13, 1986 during which the Body approved Resolution No. 551 on the Apportionment Ordinance on Third Reading under the suspended Rules without nominal voting because of which some Members opined it may suffer from such fatal defect. Mr. Davide stated that although under the suspended Rules nominal voting is not necessary, a stand which was concurred in by the Presiding Officer and the Floor Leader, in order to avoid any question on the matter, he acceded to the reopening.

Mr. Davide, likewise, manifested that the Committee on the Legislative had received a complaint from former Ambassador Lininding Pangandaman on the apportionment of Lanao del Sur particularly on the amendment of Mr. Alonto transferring the Municipality of Masiu from the First District to the Second District. He stated that Mr. Pangandaman invited attention to Republic Act No. 6406, dividing the Province of Lanao del Sur into Maranao and Lanao del Sur, under which Masiu should be in the First District, as a separate province. He stated that the amendment approved by the Body which transferred Masiu to the Second District which actually belongs to the supposed Maranao Province might give rise to a legal question later.

On request of Mr. Davide, the Chair recognized Mr. Alonto for his comment.

REMARKS OF MR. ALONTO

Mr. Alonto stated that he was unaware of the Republic Act mentioned, and he proposed Masiu to be transferred to the Second District only for the purpose of equalizing the number of inhabitants in both districts, however, he would have no objection to retaining Masiu in the First District.

RECONSIDERATION OF TRANSFER OF MASIU TO SECOND DISTRICT

Thereupon, on motion of Mr. Davide, there being no objection, the Body reconsidered its approval of the transfer of the Municipality of Masiu from the First to the Second District of Lanao del Sur.

RETENTION OF MASIU IN THE FIRST DISTRICT

Thereafter, on motion of Mr. Davide, duly seconded by Mr. Ople, the Body approved the retention of the Municipality of Masiu in the First District and its deletion from the Second District of Lanao del Sur.

INITIAL OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMMISSION ON THE CORRECTION IN THE FINAL PRINTED COPY OF THE ORDINANCE

On motion of Mr. Davide, there being no objection, the Body authorized the President of the Commission to initial the correction in the final printed copy of the Ordinance.

RE-STYLING OF THE PROVISION ON BENGUET, REGION I

On motion of Mr. Davide, there being no objection, the Body approved the re-styling of the provision on Benguet, Region I, as follows: BENGUET WITH THE CITY OF BAGUIO; TWO (2) — FIRST DISTRICT, BAGUIO CITY; SECOND DISTRICT, ALL THE MUNICIPALITIES OF BENGUET.

REMARKS OF MR. UKA

On the representation of South Cotabato in Region IX, Mr. Uka invited attention to the fact that there are three towns included but not contiguous to the other towns of the district because one has to cross the sea in order to reach the other areas.

In reply, Mr. Davide stated that for the three municipalities referred to in South Cotabato the Committee merely followed the recommendation of the COMELEC. He confirmed that said municipalities are separated by the Sarangani Bay and could be reached through General Santos City. He pointed out that General Santos City ought to have a seat but was disqualified when the population requirement was increased to 250,000 and so it was joined with the municipalities of Tupi, Polomolok and Tampakan. He recognized the peculiarity of the situation because of the Sarangani Bay and that he would be willing to accommodate any proposal on the matter which, however, would require the complete restructuring of South Cotabato. He stated that he explained to Deputy Minister Bañas that this could perhaps be corrected in the next apportionment.

The Chair clarified that the apportionment would apply only to the first election and that Congress would be able to correct it later, to which Mr. Uka agreed.

APPROVAL ON THIRD READING OF RESOLUTION NO. 551 ON THE APPORTIONMENT ORDINANCE

Thereupon, on motion of Mr. Rama, there being no objection, the Body proceeded to vote on Third Reading on Resolution No. 551 on the Apportionment Ordinance.

Upon direction of the Chair, the Secretary-General called the Roll for nominal voting. Thereafter, a second Roll Call was made.

RESULT OF THE VOTING

The result of the voting was as follows:

In favor:

Alonto	Nieva
Aquino	Nolledo
Azcuna	Ople
Bacani	Padilla
Bengzon	Rama
Bennagen	Regalado
Bernas	De los Reyes
Rosario Braid	Rigos
Calderon	Rodrigo
De Castro	Romulo
Colayco	Sarmiento
Davide	Suarez
Foz	Sumulong
Garcia	Tan
Gascon	Treñas
Guingona	Uka
Jamir	Villacorta
Laurel	Villegas
Monsod

Against:

None

With 37 Members voting in favor and none against, the Body approved, on Third Reading, Resolution No. 551 on the Apportionment Ordinance to be appended to the Constitution.

SECRETARY-GENERAL'S COUNTER SIGNATURE ON THE INITIAL OF THE PRESIDENT

On motion of Mr. Davide and there being no objection, the Body likewise authorized the Secretary-General to countersign the initial of the President on the correction on the districting of Lanao del Sur.

REMARKS OF MR. LAUREL

At this juncture, Mr. Laurel thanked his colleagues for approving a Resolution to allow Mr. Rosales to affix his signature or thumbmark to express his approval of the Constitution, particularly to President Cecilia Muñoz Palma who was initially reluctant to the proposal on the ground that the press might frown at the idea.

He, however, stressed that Mr. Rosales could not come because of his illness although, he had expressed a desire to sign the Constitution. In this connection, he opined that had the membership in the Commission been on the basis of election, Mr. Rosales would surely have been elected one of the Members.

He disclosed that when the President expressed disagreement to let Mr. Rosales sign outside the Plenary Hall, be had to approach the rostrum and later intimated to Mr. Bernal that he would not sign the Constitution if Mr. Rosales were not allowed to affix his signature or thumbmark in the manner proposed in the Resolution. He also adverted to his conversation with Mr. de Castro with whom he said he agreed jokingly that should Mr. Rosales die, they would exert effort to request St. Peter to open the gates of heaven to enable him to at least affix his thumbmark on the Constitution.

He expressed gratitude to Messrs. Bengzon, Sumulong and the other members who came and witnessed Mr. Rosales affixed his thumbmark on the Constitution.

Finally, he reiterated his thanks to President Cecilia Muñoz Palma for finally acceding to the approval of the Resolution.

INQUIRY OF MR. OPLE

In reply to Mr. Ople's inquiry on the disposition of the records and documents of the Constitutional Commission, the Secretary-General, to whom the Chair referred the query, stated that upon instruction of the President of the Commission, the Secretariat has provided a room in the Archives Service exclusively for the archiving of all the documents and records of the Constitutional Commission, for the Members to have continuing access thereto in the future.

ADJOURNMENT OF SESSION

On motion of Mr. Rama, there being no objection, the Chair declared the session adjourned until nine-thirty a.m., of the same day at the Plenary Hall.

It was 9:18 a.m.

I hereby certify to the correctness of the foregoing.

(SGD.) FLERIDA RUTH P. ROMERO
Secretary-General

ATTESTED:

(SGD.) AMBROSIO B. PADILLA
Vice-President