Jess Diaz
Philippine Star

President Arroyo’s allies among local government officials are planning a two-step Cha-cha (Charter change) initiative to overhaul the Constitution.

Bataan Rep. Enrique Garcia told a news forum in Quezon City yesterday that the first step calls for a people’s initiative (PI), a Cha-cha mode under which voters sign a petition to amend the Constitution.

He said the petition would be for converting Congress, now composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives, into a unicameral or one-chamber legislature by abolishing the Senate.

“We will keep the presidential system, but with a one-house Congress,” he said.

He said the second step calls for the envisioned one-chamber lawmaking body to convene as a constituent assembly (con-ass) and rewrite the other parts of the Constitution.

He pointed out that if they succeed in shutting down the Senate, they would have no problem convincing the unicameral legislature to meet as a con-ass.

He stressed that at present, it is impossible for Cha-cha to succeed through a constituent assembly or an elected constitutional convention because both modes require the consent of the Senate.

“Thus, we will have a backdoor approach: PI first, then con-ass,” Garcia said.

In the same forum, former University of the Philippines president Jose Abueva said he thinks that Cha-cha would fail at this time.

“President Arroyo is so unpopular that any Cha-cha initiative by her or her allies would be suspect. Under such atmosphere of suspicion, nothing will succeed,” he said.

He added that even now, Mrs. Arroyo and her allies are suspected of being motivated by personal interests in advocating Cha-cha.

Garcia said the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), which groups all local officials throughout the country, has agreed to support the new initiative to amend the Charter.

“Madali lang ito (This is easy to do). We can finish it in March,” he said.

Garcia said the next elections in 2010 should be for President, Vice President, members of the one-chamber Congress who will be elected by district like congressmen, and local officials. “We should no longer have senators then.”

He revealed that he and other ULAP members plan to set up signature stations in every congressional district where voters can sign the petition to convert Congress into a unicameral legislature.

“This is just an amendment, not a revision of the Constitution, unlike the previous proposals. So we are confident that the Supreme Court, if a question is brought before it, would allow the people’s initiative,” Garcia said.

The Bataan governor was referring to the amendments proposed in the administration-backed Sigaw ng Bayan people’s initiative in 2006, which the Supreme Court junked, describing it as a “grand deception” and a “gigantic fraud.”

Anti-Marcos Charter

A top Malacañang official, meanwhile, expressed support for opposition leader Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. in his proposal to convene the Senate and the House of Representatives into a con-ass to introduce amendments to the Constitution and delete the so-called “anti-Marcos” provisions.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol said the proposal made by Pimentel is deemed the fastest way to amend the Charter and do away with its provisions which, he said, have become a stumbling block to the country’s economic progress.

Apostol, however, was quick to clarify that Malacañang has nothing to do with the Charter amendment initiative but supported the idea of Pimentel on con-ass.

Apostol said the 1987 Constitution contained several provisions that were included to prevent another dictatorship.

He said the Charter was crafted by anti-Marcos delegates whose mindset was to prevent a return of the regime by introducing several provisions which, in effect, kept the country in the economic doldrums.

Apostol said the so-called “nationalist” provisions of the Constitution have made the country lag behind in the global economic race. He cited a provision in the Constitution that limits foreign investment and equity in business in the country.

He cited more than 100 provisions of the Constitution which he said do not conform to the structure of a democratic government.

Apostol pointed out that China has relaxed its nationalist policy to attract foreign investment and propel the communist giant into the forefront of the global economy.

– With Perseus Echeminada