Senate favors change in Charter after 2010
Fel V. Maragay
Manila Standard
SENATORS yesterday said they were open to new efforts to amend the Constitution and change the system of government, but said such reforms should take effect after 2010 to dispel suspicions that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wanted to extend her stay in office.
House Speaker Jose de Venecia, a vocal advocate of Charter Change, yesterday said the House had agreed not to take on the issue until key economic bills—including the P1.27-trillion national budget—were passed. But he said that January 2008 would be a good time to revive the campaign to amend the Constitution.
Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, said he welcomed new debates on Charter Change and the President’s move to set up a high-level team to draft a road map to federalism by 2012.
Gordon said the fact that the President set a 2012 target should assure critics that she did not wish to remain in power beyond her term, which ends in 2010.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said he too welcomed the push for federalism, a cause he had long supported.
“Because President Arroyo is like the Greeks bearing gifts, we in the opposition should always be wary of dealing with her,” Pimentel said in a statement. “In any event, because my advocacy of federalism started long before [Mrs. Arroyo] became president and transcends political considerations or differences, the idea that it should now be discussed is acceptable to me.”
But opposition Senator Francis Escudero said he would continue to oppose Charter Change while President Arroyo is in power, and said the issue should not be made a priority because of the many other pressing problems facing the nation.
Palace officials yesterday said the President was just being consistent in reviving her call for Charter Change, and denied any connection to an impeachment complaint filed against her in the House of Representatives.
“This is not a matter of coincidence but of consistency and perseverance,” Presidential Management Staff Chief Serge Remonde said. “The President is just being consistent with her 2004 presidential campaign platform of political reforms.”
He said the 2012 target should dispel talk that Mrs. Arroyo wanted to extend her term, and give candidates in the 2010 election the opportunity to commit to federalism as a platform.
But the militant Akbayan party-list group said the new bid for Charter Change was aimed at gaining local allies for the administration in its confrontation with De Venecia.
Rep. Risa Hontiveros described the new Charter Change bid as a “proxy war” between the President and the speaker and said it was not a genuine call for federalism.
She accused the President of using federalism as “political insurance” against De Venecia. With Romie A. Evangelista, Roy Pelovello, Macon Ramos Araneta
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