VietNamNet Bridge - Former Chair of the HCM City People's Council Pham Phuong Thao proposed to consider setting up an independent Constitutional Council to handle unconstitutional issues.

Former Chair of the HCM City People's Council Pham Phuong Thao.

On January 24, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council held a conference to collect opinions of HCM City’s former officials on the draft amendment to the Constitution 1992.

The draft amendment to the Constitution 1992 has been added with a chapter on the Constitutional Council, the National Election Council and the State Audit Agency.

The draft stipulates: The Constitutional Council examines the constitutionality of legal documents; petitions the National Assembly to reconsider its legal documents when unconstitutional contents are detected; and asks the President, the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Government… to amend and supplement legal documents...

The participants said the council’s function of making "recommendation" and "requirement" are only the advisory and assistant tasks like the current agencies.

Lawyer Tran Quoc Thuan, former Deputy Director of the Office of the National Assembly suggested that the Constitutional Council has the jurisdiction and the right to make decision on the constitutionality of the legal documents.

Former Chair of the HCM City People's Council Pham Phuong Thao agreed with this proposal, saying that it should clarify the functions and sanctions of the Constitutional Council.

"How do we have a strong Constitutional Council to deal with violations of the Constitution? I think this is an important issue. If the Constitutional Council only has the advisory function, it will be too weak. We should consider an independent Constitutional Council to strongly handling unconstitutional issues," Thao said.

"If we have not established the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Council should have an independent status for stronger sanctions," Thao said.

Former Director of the HCM City Department of Justice Ngo Minh Hong said a Constitutional Council as being stipulated in the draft should not be established because the National Assembly has already had agencies to inspect the constitutionality. “The Constitutional Council shall have independent power from the executive, judiciary and legislature bodies," Hong proposed.

“Everyone is afraid of Ho Chi Minh City’s claim for autonomy”

Regard to the chapter on the local government, many participants said the draft does not have breakthrough.

Hong said whenever Ho Chi Minh City makes proposals, everyone is afraid of the city’s claim for autonomy. According to her, because of the current policy, the city cannot fully develop. A specific policy for the city’s development will benefit the entire country, she stressed.

"We must have the right to use our money. I know that the city government has hundreds of billions dong but it does not allow using the amount while we need to develop infrastructure,” she said.

According to Hong, the amendment of the Constitution this time should have broader principles for the local government’s autonomy.

In the second chapter on human rights, delegates said that the draft focuses on the citizenship rather than the human rights. Article 21 says "people have the right to life" is too sketchy. According to the participants, it should be added with the right to the "pursuit of happiness" and the right to have "voluntary death".

Article 39 states that "men and women have the right to marry and divorce. Marriage must be on the voluntary principle" but many participants wondered that recently there were many gay weddings and this issue should be included in the Constitution.

Ta Lam