The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) had earlier expressed deep concern that the people’s initiative to get voters’ signature in support of amending the Constitution was not accompanied by adequate public debate or information on the issues involved.

De Venecia said he expected there would be a campaign period of 60 to 90 days prior to a national plebiscite that would be called to ratify any constitutional amendment either in June, July or August.

De Venecia outlined a multi-step process that includes the gathering of signatures of qualified voters, verification of the signatures by the Commission on Elections, a Comelec en banc decision setting the date for the national plebiscite, a campaign period of 60-90 days, and the final decision by the Filipino electorate.

"This is a long and continuing process by which our people could study the issues carefully and debate the Charter amendments extensively before the holding of a national plebiscite," the Speaker said.

"There will be a full debate—large-scale and nationwide—on the merits, defects and mechanics of the Charter amendments," De Venecia added.

He said the debate would focus on the proposed shift to a parliamentary government and a unicameral parliament through a people’s initiative mounted by the Sigaw ng Bayan and its coalition allies of more than 100 people’s organizations nationwide.

De Venecia said he expected a court battle over the legality of the people’s initiative as a mode to amend the constitution.

He asked leaders of Sigaw ng Bayan and its allied organizations to mount a full-scale information program, a proposal first made by former President Fidel V. Ramos at the Lakas CMD national directorate meeting in January this year.

De Venecia said that the people’s initiative undertaken by Sigaw ng Bayan has long surpassed the minimum constitutional requirement of 5.2 million signatures—or 12 percent of the country’s electorate.

De Venecia also assured the country’s Catholic bishops of a large-scale wide-ranging debate after the House gathers 195 signatures of members pushing for a Constituent Assembly to introduce eight strategic amendments to the 1987 Constitution.

"We give our full assurance that there will be a large-scale debate in the House and the Senate—whether voting jointly or separately—on all the proposed amendments, including seven not covered by the people’s initiative," De Venecia said.

The amendments are led by the proposed lifting of restrictive economic provisions in the Charter which could attract massive foreign investments to build factories and create millions of jobs to propel the economy, De Venecia said.

He said foreign investments led to the economic growth being enjoyed by China, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand.