THE TOP politicos, from President Rodrigo Duterte down, are now telling us that – to save money — they have in mind converting the Congress into a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) to amend or revise the Constitution.

We don’t buy that subterfuge. Saving money cannot be the real reason for the sudden shift from a nonpartisan Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) to a politicized Con-Ass.

Instead of saving money, we are likely to end up wasting multimillions when the people reject in a plebiscite the constitutional package wrapped up by the usual assholes that have been conning them.

Con-Ass and Con-Con are two of the three modes of amending or revising the 29-year-old Constitution. The third is People’s Initiative. The draft made by any of the modes needs ratification in a plebiscite.

In a Con-Ass, the Congress will convert itself into a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the charter or replace it. On the other hand, a Con-Con will convene delegates elected for a Constitutional Convention called to amend or revise the charter.

The ugly difference is that the Con-Ass will imbed in the assembly the same political interests controlling the Congress. Taking over the process, they are likely to dictate the style and substance of the new or amended Constitution – in their favor.

What ever happened to the promise that the process will be insulated from partisan politics, that members of the Congress and persons who ran in the May 2016 elections will not be part of the body that will amend or revise the Constitution?

The ulterior motive of insisting on a Con-Ass is all too clear: To ensure control of the post-Duterte regime by the same power dealers in cahoots with the entrenched political dynasties infesting the Congress.

Since the legislature is populated by characters most of whom are incompetent to talk Charter Change or think outside the box of special interests, Con-Ass promoters plan to hire experts and respected personalities as advisers to fill the intellectual and integrity gaps and to deodorize the stink.

The stratagem is useless. The people will see through this attempt to borrow and transplant the expertise and experience of a 20-member commission proposed to be organized to prop up the false façade of a Con-Ass.

• But there’s money for armed men

WHEN the administration wants something badly, there is money — such as the doubling of the salaries of soldiers and policemen even before there is a new budget. Mr. Duterte needs them for his anti-crime campaign and whatever emergency the bloodbath may trigger.

Now, the President is suddenly parroting the supermajority leaders’ claim that a Con-Con, his first choice for correcting the shortcomings of the Constitution, would be too expensive.

Sometime back, when his instincts were still intact, President Duterte was advocating a Con-Con. He said that mode would be “more in keeping with the constitutional promise that the people would really believe in and would trust.”

It is obvious even to obtuse observers that people are wary of things molded by the dirty hands of politicians. It would be dumb to present for ratification a new Constitution written by the same hard-to-trust politicians running the Congress.

With their draft Constitution’s rejection in the plebiscite, the multimillions spent in manufacturing that charter marked “Made by Politicians” will go down the drain.

Where then would be the savings that the administration’s supermajority is talking about as the rationale for shifting from Con-Con to Con-Ass?

The proponents might as well confess that their motive is not really savings but speed, because – like in the bloody six-month campaign to eradicate crime and corruption by all means – the Duterte locomotive is running on a very tight schedule.

• People might get Cha-cha indigestion

THE ADMINISTRATION must have noticed the latest survey purporting to show that only 37 percent of respondents support the move to amend or revise the Constitution while a bigger 44 percent are against it.

Not everybody believes these hard-to-verify surveys, but still the numbers claimed could be disconcerting for an administration enjoying the bliss of a 100-day honeymoon.

It is possible that — in the same way that the administration in its hurry to show results seems to have placed too much food on its plate — the people are being fed raw Charter Change bits and pieces that they are not yet ready to taste, chew, swallow and digest.

Many people are confused about what the administration wants for them after the term of Mr. Duterte. Is it a parliamentary setup? Patterned after which model? Or will it be a Filipino-style parliamentary system?

And what is this federal system being mentioned in the same breath as that hazy parliamentary concept? Do the federal and the parliamentary systems go together, or are they separate choices? How do the two differ or mesh together, if they do at all?

The masses cannot appreciate and support something whose nature and effect on their lives is not clear to them.

Before we talk of Charter Change, Con-Ass, parliamentary this, federal that, maybe we should first attend to gut issues, to creating jobs, raising wages, building dwellings, untangling traffic, making streets cleaner and safer. Basics muna.

Maybe some adjustments in approach and priorities are in order, because the demographic context has changed drastically. This is no longer just Davao, but the entire Philippine archipelago. And the time frame is just six short years.

This is not to say that we should not revisit the Constitution. We should amend or revise it soonest — through a nonpartisan Constitutional Convention.