"CHA-CHA NO PRIORITY OF GMA". Charter change (Cha-cha) is not on President Arroyo's priority list.
Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said yesterday that amending the 1987 Constitution is not the President's priority right now. "She'd rather concentrate on political, economic and electoral reforms," he said. Bunye made these statements in reaction to reports that the Palace is tacitly supporting moves to amend the Charter.
It was reported that, despite the fact the President is distancing herself from the issue of Charter change, Malacanang is still exerting all efforts to bring about changes in the Constitution. Mrs. Arroyo earlier said she would rather wait for Congress to decide on the final outcome of the Charter change proposal.
Meanwhile, Rep. Prospero Nograles said the tacit support of the President, "albeit noncommittal," has removed "all stumbling blocks... hindering the process (of Charter change)." Nograles referred to Gonzales' statement that the President formed a study group of leading constitutionalists last year who were tasked to come up with specific amendments to the Charter that will be presented to Congress soon.
According to Nograles, Gonzales' revelations have removed "the most crucial stumbling block for the move to amend the Philippine Constitution... It's really a relief for all of us who risked (exposing) ourselves (to) public criticisms, because we know this is the right thing to do. At least now we know that the President is on our side." Gonzales said his target is to have the proposed Charter amendments passed and ratified in a plebiscite in time for the May 2004 national elections.
Source: Philippine Star, 23 June 2003
Guingona: CHARTER’S NATIONAL PATRIMONY PROVISIONS NOT SAFE WITH CONSA. Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. dismissed yesterday as an "outright lie" assurances by his Lakas Christian-Muslim Democrat (Lakas-CMD) partymates that any amendment of the Constitution through a constituent assembly would be limited to political reforms like changing the form of government.
Guingona said pro-Charter change Lakas-CMD leaders tried to placate him during Monday’s party caucus with a promise that national patrimony provisions would be left untouched if Congress convenes into a constituent assembly. In denouncing the alleged "insidious attempts to sell out our national patrimony to exploitative foreign interests," Guingona said lawmakers should not lift the "Constitution’s protective mantle over the national inheritance of our children and our children’s children." Guingona said he was sure that significant provisions on the protection of the national patrimony would be deleted once the Constitution is opened to amendments.
Last Wednesday, Lakas national spokesman Heherson Alvarez said Guingona will not be expelled as party president despite his opposition to Charter change. But presidential adviser on political affairs Jose Rufino appealed to Guingona to reconsider his decision and abide by the majority Lakas stand to amend the Constitution through a constituent assembly.
Source: Philippine Star, 6 June 2003
CHARTER CHANGE DEAD; ANGARA BLAMED. Opposition Sen. John Osmena has conceded that the Charter change proposal was "dead in the water" where the Senate was concerned and blamed Sen. Edgardo Angara for it.
Legarda said the other day that the Charter change bid in the Senate was as good as dead because Congress has run out of time to tackle the relevant resolutions as the legislature is set to adjourn in three weeks. Legarda said that up to now, the Senate committee on constitutional amendments chaired by Angara has yet to wrap up public hearings on the Charter change proposals.
Osmena said he agreed with Majority Leader Loren Legarda's statement but believed it was because "the captain has jumped ship." Angara left for the United States last week.
Osmena said Angara had "abandoned" him and other senators who were in favor of Congress constituting itself into a constituent assembly to tackle amendments to the Constitution. Osmena said that he knew Angara had left for the US for the wedding of a relative last week. But he said that when he checked yesterday he found that Angara had bought "open-dated" return air ticket. This indicated that Angara was "not planning to come home in the next week and even before the adjournment of Congress," according to Osmena.
Source: Philippines Daily Inquirer, 21 May 2003
CHARTER CHANGE ‘ALL UP TO GOD’ – DE VENECIA. With his campaign for "Charter change" facing opposition from religious groups, House Speaker Jose de Venecia House Speaker De Venecia is leaving the issue up to God to decide.
The Speaker said he believed in "small and big miracles" and he was confident that God was on his side, citing, "We started with zero in the Senate, but now we have 10 votes." De Venecia did not say how he could divine the "signs" from heaven.
Catholic Church officials and leaders of the Iglesia ni Cristo Christian sect and the Catholic-based El Shaddai charismatic group have been vocal in opposing the Charter change proposal. De Venecia said he was willing to meet the religious leaders to discuss his position on the need to amend the Constitution this year.
He admitted that the Charter change proposal had a "50-50 chance" of survival in the Senate. The resolution seeking to convert the Congress into a constituent assembly still needed two senators' votes to get the 12 votes needed for approval. The ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats party meanwhile has claimed that 50 percent of Filipinos prefer a constituent assembly as the main mode of amending the Constitution, citing the results of a survey it commissioned from the NFO-Trends. House leaders were awaiting the decision of the Senate committee that would recommend to the plenary what mode to adopt.
The House plenary has approved with a vote of 134 to 13 the resolution calling on the two chambers to convene as an assembly.
Source: Philippines Daily Inquirer, 15 May 2003
DE VENECIA: ELECTIONS WILL PUSH THROUGH NEXT YEAR. The presidential elections scheduled in May next year will push through, Speaker Jose de Venecia assured the nation yesterday.
De Venecia dismissed reports that he and other proponents of Charter change are eyeing the cancellation of next year’s elections so that the terms of elected officials could be extended beyond 2004. He remains confident that the campaign to amend the Constitution will culminate in a constituent assembly, which could propose the lifting of certain restrictive economic provisions and the shift from a presidential system to a unicameral parliamentary government.
De Venecia said electing a president patterned after the French or Singapore model of governance would ensure that Filipinos can directly participate in electing a "president who will be a unifying figure and a symbol of sovereignty and power." He said the president, under the French model, would be "powerful," while a president patterned after the Singapore model would have "reduced powers." De Venecia said he will leave it up to the constituent assembly to work out these proposals.
He said he is happy that one of the staunchest opponents of Charter change, Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, now is in favor of it and that even former President Corazon Aquino has admitted that the Constitution, drafted and ratified during her administration, is not perfect.
De Venecia opposes the holding of a constitutional convention not on grounds that it would be divisive, but would cost P8 billion to conduct. A constitutional convention, he said, will "create 420 new politicians" elected from the country’s 210 congressional districts "who will demand a large working budget, staff and convene in a new building to write the Charter." De Venecia added that the amendments wrought by a constitutional convention will take effect only in 2010, "too long for urgent reforms to be put in place."
Source: Philippine Star, 12 May 2003
MACAPAGAL STILL WON’T AGREE TO CHARTER CHANGE. Pres. Macapagal-Arroyo is still not dancing the Charter change tune of Speaker Jose de Venecia even as the Speaker claimed that "more and more senators" were supporting constitutional amendments by way of a constituent assembly.
Presidential spokesperson Ignacio Bunye said the President simply believes that amending the Constitution should not be a priority at this time when "there are other concerns that have to be addressed . . . other priorities that should be given attention." Bunye said the President was counting on the Senate to stop De Venecia's "Cha-cha express."
De Venecia, who claimed earlier that the Charter could be amended by November to change the system of government from a presidential to a parliamentary system, said the two chambers were closer to agreeing to convene a constituent assembly after he met with senators on Tuesday. He said the senators agreed that it was time to shift to a parliamentary and federal form of government with a unicameral legislature. Most senators reportedly disagree with De Venecia's preferred mode of amending the Charter through a constituent assembly. But a House official has claimed that 10 senators were already in favor of a constituent assembly, two votes short of the number needed to approve a resolution filed by Angara and Barbers.
The House earlier approved the resolution proposing that the Congress constitute itself into a constituent assembly. Angara said after Tuesday's meeting that no agreement was concluded on the mode of effecting the amendments. Angara, who chairs the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, said the 14-member committee was divided on whether to go for a constituent assembly or a constitutional convention. He said that as far as he was concerned, he was not changing his position favoring a constitutional convention.
Source: Philippines Daily Inquirer, 30 April 2003
CHARTER CHANGE MOVE ONLY TWO SENATE VOTES SHY. Just two more senatorial votes are needed before Congress can be convened into a constituent assembly to amend the Constitution, a congressman said yesterday.
The solon, who asked not to be identified, said members of the House have managed to convince 10 senators to agree to a constituent assembly as a mode of Charter change. The 10 senators were identified as Edgardo Angara, Robert Barbers, Manuel Villar, Aquilino Pimentel, Vicente Sotto, Robert Jaworski, Ramon Revilla, Rodolfo Biazon, Tessie Aquino Oreta and John Osmena. Angara and Barbers earlier filed a concurrent resolution to convene both chambers into a constituent assembly. The support of only two more senators is needed for the Senate to pass the concurrent resolution.
Four other senators — Gregorio Honasan, Loren Legarda, Ramon Magsaysay and Ralph Recto — are reportedly close to supporting the resolution. If 12 senators agree to a constituent assembly, Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, will report out the resolution to the floor where it is expected to be approved after a plenary debate.
The Lower House approved, with a clear majority, last March a similar resolution, which proposed a shift to a unicameral parliamentary government with an eventual transition to a federal system. It will amend economic provisions, the form of government, and transitory provisions.
The solon said work on the rules of the constituent assembly can be done from May to June, before Congress adjourns. When the next Congress opens in July, it can then convene into a constituent assembly since both chambers would be in session. The assembly can work on the amendments from August to September, and their amendments can then be presented to the people during the campaign period from October to December. A plebiscite on the amendments can be held in January next year.
Source: Philippine Star, 28 April 2003
DRILON, JDV SET CHA-CHA TALKS. Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. are scheduled to meet on Monday to discuss the controversial issue of Charter change.
The one-on-one meeting was revealed yesterday by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., who has been urging the Senate and the House to resolve their differences on Cha-cha. Opposition Sen. Edgardo Angara, who chairs the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and electoral reforms, and his House counterpart, Rep. Eduardo Antonio Nachura, are also set to meet this weekend to tackle the same issue.
Pimentel said the two chambers should agree on what constitutional provisions should be rewritten before proceeding to discuss the mode of revising the Charter. He said if such provisions are not subjected to amendments, people would not suspect that members of Congress are motivated by self-interest in wanting to tinker with the Charter. There would then be less opposition to the House proposal to convert Congress into a constituent assembly to do the rewriting job, he added.
While the House is for lawmakers doing the rewriting job, most senators want it to be done by an elected constitutional convention. However, according to estimates, a convention would cost taxpayers between P2 billion and P6 billion, a huge expense that the nation cannot afford at this time when it is facing a ballooning budget deficit.
Source: Philippine Star, 25 April 2003
CONGRESS EYES DEAL ON CHA-CHA. The Senate and the House of Representatives have agreed to iron out their differences on the controversial issue of Charter change (Cha-cha).
Sen. Edgardo Angara, who chairs the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and electoral reforms, said yesterday he and his House counterpart, Rep. Eduardo Antonio Nachura, would meet later this week to discuss ways of resolving the deadlock between the two chambers on Cha-cha. He said a possible compromise would be taken up.
Senators and congressmen have been under pressure from pro-constitutional amendment groups to talk and resolve their differences. Their calls have been supported by Senators Ramon Magsaysay Jr. and Aquilino Pimentel Jr. The House has adopted Concurrent Resolution 16, which urges Congress to convert itself into a constituent assembly to propose constitutional amendments. Most senators, on the other hand, want the amendments done through a constitutional convention.
Angara and Sen. Robert Barbers, who belongs to the ruling Lakas party, are supporting the congressmen’s constituent assembly proposal. Angara said his committee would soon submit its report on Cha-cha to the Senate. He said he did not know yet whether the committee would recommend the constituent assembly mode of amending the Constitution or the election of a constitutional convention.
Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and his House colleagues have claimed that they have at least nine constituent assembly mode supporters in the Senate, including Angara and Barbers. Pimentel is also for this less expensive and more expeditious way of rewriting the Charter, but he wants members of Congress to respect the present limits on their terms even if the present form of government is changed.
Source: Philippine Star, 23 April 2003