A RESOLUTION Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte is poised to file seeking to convene Congress into a constituent assembly to amend the Constitution without the Senate and the House of Representatives voting separately pledges that elections would be held next year and the terms of President Gloria Arroyo and Vice President Noli de Castro would not be extended.
But the resolution does not categorically promise that elections would be held in May, as provided in the Constitution. Neither does it vow that Congress would not introduce amendments that would allow Arroyo to hold her current office in a holdover capacity, seek reelection or still be the head of state in another capacity such as prime minister in a parliamentary form of government. (Download a copy of the Cha-cha resolution.)
Critics of the Arroyo administration have said that charter change or “Cha-cha” will be used to keep Arroyo in power.
The Villafuerte resolution, which is still several signatures short of the required 197, also states that the terms of office of senators, congressmen and elective local officials which will expire next year would not be extended and senators who were elected in 2007 would finish their six-year term in 2013.
Earlier, Speaker Prospero Nograles said the resolution, with 175 signatures, have been submitted to his office.
The resolution insists that a constituent assembly can be formed under the 1987 Constitution upon a vote of three-fourths of all members of Congress. There are 238 congressmen and 23 senators.
It says that a provision in the 1935 Constitution that a constituent assembly can be formed by Congress “in joint session assembled, by a vote of three-fourths of all members of the Senate and of the House of Representatives voting separately” has been deleted and replaced by a provision in the 1987 Constitution requiring only “a vote of three-fourths of all its (Congress’) members.”
Villafuerte and the other Cha-cha proponents also stress the difference between the rules that apply to lawmaking and those for amending or revising the Constitution.
All 23 senators have passed a resolution stating that voting should be done separately before Congress can convene itself into a constituent assembly, similar to what the legislators do when they pass laws.
Former Senate president and Liberal Party national chairman Franklin Drilon said Cha-cha is part of a “grand deception plan designed to install President Arroyo as prime minister even after the holding of the 2010 elections.”
“For now, what they need is to secure a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court stating that the House alone can initiate charter change through a constituent assembly and effectively bypass the Senate. That is the reason for the Villafuerte Resolution: To provide a justiciable issue for the Supreme Court to act on the matter,” he said.
Drilon said once the Supreme Court upholds the “House-alone” constituent assembly process, “then there is no stopping President Arroyo from holding on to power as long as she wants.”
The plan to revive attempts to amend the Constitution came to light when former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. recently disclosed that presidential son and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mike” Arroyo and Leyte congressman Ferdinand Martin Romualdez in early March sought his help to muster the required number of votes to get Villafuerte’s resolution passed.
The revelation confirmed suspicions that President Arroyo and her party, Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) headed by Villafuerte, have not given up on charter change despite Malacanang’s pronouncements to the contrary.
Venecia has said he would oppose any move to extend Arroyo’s term.
In promising to hold the 2010 elections and to not extend the terms of office of certain elective officials, the proponents of the Cha-cha resolution said these moves could lead to “justiciable controversy” that may require the Supreme Court to resolve.
The resolution says economic provisions in the Constitution need to be amended to make the country “internationally competitive in attracting foreign investments and technology transfers.” — Yvonne T. Chua and Ellen Tordesillas