Senate leaders: No Cha-cha before ’04

To help provide the political stability badly needed by the country, the Senate leadership declared yesterday that it would oppose any move to amend the Constitution by convening the two chambers of Congress into a constituent assembly.

In a joint press statement, Senate President Franklin Drilon, Senate President Pro Tempore Juan Flavier and Majority Floor Leader Loren Legarda said that the Senate leadership would agree to Charter change only if it is done through a constitutional convention to be held after the 2004 elections.

The three senators said the country faces problems more pressing than constitutional amendments, adding that it would be irresponsible for the Senate and the House of Representatives to focus their attention on amending the 1987 Constitution instead of working to improve the lives of Filipinos.

Drilon, Flavier and Legarda were apparently reacting to the Charter change moves made by the House committee on constitutional amendments chaired by Rep. Antonio Nachura.

Nachura’s committee filed House Concurrent Resolution No. 16 under Committee Report No. 1011, calling for both chambers of Congress to meet as a constituent assembly that will introduce amendments to the 1987 Charter.

The resolution filed by Nachura’s committee comes in the wake of Speaker Jose de Venecia’s proposals to pursue constitutional amendments converting the presidential system of government into a parliamentary system.

"Indeed, the economy is down and the peace and order situation is unstable. If anything, this is the time for the senators and congressmen to pass laws which will help improve the lives of our countrymen," Drilon said.

"Enough of this (Charter change)," Flavier said. "We have better things to do. This is really not the right time to even change the form of government."

According to Legarda, "the country is experiencing an economic slump. Moreover, any Charter change will be politically divisive. What we need now is unity, not division."

In a press briefing, however, Drilon said the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revisions of codes and laws chaired by Sen. Edgardo Angara can proceed with its public hearings on Charter change proposals.

"That is their prerogative and we respect that. But as of now, we are saying that the Senate leadership will oppose any attempt to amend the constitution at this time," he said.

Meanwhile, the declaration of President Arroyo that she will not run in the 2004 presidential elections will have a positive effect for her new Cabinet choices before the Commission on Appointments (CA), Angara said yesterday.

"As long as the nominees meet the basic requirements of competence and integrity, there would be no problem for (Mrs. Arroyo’s) new choices in the Cabinet," said Angara, a CA member who is president of the opposition Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP).

Angara said Filipinos expect politicians to work on a single agenda during the last 18 months of the Arroyo administration. This single agenda, he added is to "move the country forward" — something that will not happen if the CA goes into a lengthy grilling of Cabinet nominees.

"The CA as a whole will respond positively to (Mrs. Arroyo’s) nominees and the people she wants in her team," Angara added.

The President’s declaration that she will not seek a full six-year term in 2004, he said, gave her a "sense of liberation" that freed her from the various groups that helped install her in the presidency.

Before the President’s Rizal Day declaration, she had to contend with the representatives of the different groups that felt Mrs. Arroyo owed them her post and believed that particular debt of gratitude should be paid with top appointments or the adoption of their policy proposals, Angara said.

As far as hiring and firing people is concerned, Angara said, the President now has the freedom to select people she can work with, people who can work as a team.

"She has 18 months to accomplish what she has set (out) to do and the CA will not be an obstruction to her agenda," he said.