Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter
Manila Times

Amid fresh calls for her impeachment and allegations of bribery to foil another attempt to remove her from office according to the law, President Gloria Arroyo has renewed her call for Charter change—or “Cha-cha.”

Mrs. Arroyo ordered the creation of a panel that would draft a “roadmap to federalism by 2012” when she spoke at the regional workshop on the Establishment of National Human Rights Institutions in Asia in Manila on Monday.

“The measures [under the roadmap] could include super-region planning and oversight bodies with officials and staff from the Regional Development Councils and national agencies to draw up programs and projects up to a stipulated amount for inclusion in the 2009 budget, legislation to affirm and expand executive issuances and eventually Charter change,” the President said.

She added the panel will be composed of the secretaries of Justice, Interior and Local Government and National Economic and Development Authority; Presidential Management Staff chief; leaders of local government units; congressmen; and even opposition leaders advocating federalism.

In her 2005 State of the Nation address, Mrs. Arroyo first broached the possibility of adopting a federal system of government.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., a staunch supporter of federalism, had said the establishment of a federal system should be the long-range and ultimate political solution to the decades-old Muslim rebellion in Mindanao.

Pimentel’s argument was that a federal form of government would give more equal representation to people in the Philippines’ South, and federalism would also give them a degree of autonomy from Manila.

There are few national leaders representing Mindanao, especially the areas where there are many Filipino Muslims.

Mrs. Arroyo is facing a third impeachment complaint filed against her in the House of Representatives in connection with the controversial National Broadband Network project, which she canceled early this month.

Malacañang has been under attack by critics after giving cash gifts last week amounting to between P200,000 and P500,000 to pro-administration congressmen and local government officials allegedly in connection with the impeachment case.

Congressmen react

House Deputy Minority Leader and Rep. Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna Party-list said the bribery scandal is linked to the President’s move to revive “Cha-cha.”

In a statement, Ocampo added Mrs. Arroyo “is paying the price of political survival at the expense of taxpayers’ money.”

He said the filing of the “sham” impeachment complaint at the House of Representatives coupled with Malacañang’s bribery spree “is not simply designed for Mrs. Arroyo’s survival until 2010 but beyond.”

She is “literally buying her way beyond 2010, again on board her Cha-cha train,” Ocampo pointed out.

At least one congressman allied with the President defended her.

Rep. Prospero Nograles of Davao, head of the House contingent to the Commission on Appointments, said federalism has been the “cry” of Mindanao leaders and will be Mrs. Arroyo’s “lasting legacy if she can push it to its conclusion.”

–With Maricel V. Cruz