I           CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION

1.In May of 2004, PGMA staked her Presidency and Candidacy on Changing the Constitution. She won overwhelmingly. 2. In July of 2005, in her SONA, she stunned the Nation when she called for a Public Debate on Charter Change. 3. In September of that year, she created the CONSULTATIVE COMMISSION to propose changes in the 1987 Constitution and spearhead and help shape the National Debate. 4. Consultations, workshops and public hearings were conducted nationwide to feel the pulse of the people. 5. By December 16 of 2005, the CONSULTATIVE COMMISSION finished its work and submitted Proposals to PGMA and she in turn endorsed them to the Lower House 6. The Lower House has adopted most of the Proposals of the Concom but the Public Debate continues…

But let me give you a chronicle of events that led eventually toward the creation of the twin Commissions…the Consultative and Advocacy; Concom and Adcom, for short.
When the President positioned the Charter Change agenda toward the mainstream of the political discourse in the early part of 2004, we never had any delusions that we, the advocates of the Citizen's Movement for Federal Philippines (CMFP) will have an easy time explaining, let alone sell the concept to the body politic.

On the other hand, we had unexpectedly a proper vehicle through which we can pursue our advocacies to a wider audience.

In the dynamics of an organization of peers of diverse beliefs and articulate experts, a negotiated outcome must be created - the finished document which is now undergoing scrutiny by both congress and the public is one such result - a document not perfect but sharpened by intense internal debates and external critique.

Thus, the Concom documents of December 2005 became the point of departure for these debates.
WHAT NEXT ?  This question was in the minds of the movers of Charter Change, after December 2005. Both the President and the Speaker of the House simultaneously saw the necessity of seeking the people's help in pushing the agenda further. The Senate remained recalcitrant and would not be a party to its own demise…Senator Joker Arroyo put it succinctly when he declared that "…the Senate will not be involved in writing its own obituary…"

A glimmer of hope came from an unexpected quarter. An SWS series of surveys suggested that long before the great debate on charter change began (May 2005), 70% of the people were against it. On the other hand, 73% of the people don't know enough about the constitution.

When the debate on charter change came into heat and more people began to know more about the Constitution, the figures changed dramatically, 54 %, or a majority, approve of Charter Change now - an increase from 30%.

The ramification of this is simple: The more the people are informed and educated about the constitution and the issues, the more they are for changing it.

EO 495 created a group of 15 men and women, all invited by President GMA, all volunteers, most were members of the Concom, all are not paid salaries for their work and all will toil for the next 8 months - all advocating for:

1. The shift from presidential form to a parliamentary form of government; 2. The shift from a unitary structure of government to autonomous territories/federal states; and 3. The liberalization of the economy.

As embodied in the proposed amendment of the 1987 Constitution submitted by the Consultative Commission…

The Charter Change Advocacy Commission (Adcom or Concom2) is the "WHAT NEXT?" , as articulated by the two main movers and proponents of  Charter Change, the President and the Speaker. The mandate given us, the advocates is very clear: We have to inform and educate the Pilipino people on the alterations proposed on our present constitution in order for them TO MAKE AN INFORMED CHOICE.