Constitutional convention (Philippines)

In the Philippines, a constitutional convention is one of the three ways to amend the Constitution of the Philippines. Others include a People's Initiative and the Constituent Assembly. Article XVII, Section 3 of the Constitution says, "The Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of all its Members, call a constitutional convention, or by a majority vote of all its Members, submit to the electorate the question of calling such a convention."^[1][2]

The 1987 constitution does not specify how delegates to a Constitutional Convention should be chosen.^[1] For past conventions, this has been specified in the legislation calling for the convention. In 1971, under an earlier constitution, Republic Act No. 6132 provided that delegates to a constitutional convention would be elected by the national legislative district, in a special election.^[3] The 1987 constitution specifies that any proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution must be ratified by a majority of voters in a plebiscite.^[1]

The process of amending or revising the 1987 Constitution has become known as charter change.

List

There have been five constitutional conventions in Philippine history:

Election	Convention	Constitution	Plebiscite
1898	Malolos Congress	Malolos Constitution	Approved by assembly
1934	Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1934	1935 Constitution of the Philippines	1935; 96.43% in favor
None	Preparatory Committee for Philippine Independence	1943 Constitution of the Philippines	Approved by assembly
1970	Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1971	1973 Constitution of the Philippines	1973; 90.67% in favor
None	Philippine Constitutional Commission of 1986	1987 Constitution of the Philippines	1987; 77.04% in favor

See also

• Constitutional reform in the Philippines
• Constitution of the Philippines
• Federalism in the Philippines