Magsaysay urges talks on Cha-cha

The Senate and the House of Representatives should hold a dialogue to break their deadlock on Cha-cha (Charter change), Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. said yesterday.

"The deadlock can be resolved only by a thorough dialogue between senators and congressmen," he said.

He said nothing will happen if the two chambers continue to stick to their contradictory positions on the issue of constitutional change.

Before Congress went on its month-long Lenten break last month, the House, by an overwhelming vote, approved Concurrent Resolution 16, which urges lawmakers to convene themselves into a constituent assembly to propose Charter amendments. The resolution has been promptly sent to the Senate for its consideration.

But most senators are opposed to the constituent assembly mode of amending the Constitution. They want an elected constitutional convention to do the job. Such process, according to estimates, could cost taxpayers between P2 billion and P6 billion.

Magsaysay said he is for electing a convention, but is ready to hear the arguments of congressmen for the constituent assembly mode.

Convening Congress into a Charter-rewriting body is admittedly the inexpensive and most expeditious way of revising the Constitution.

Earlier, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel urged congressmen to agree to keeping the constitutional restrictions on the terms of elective officials, from the president down to town mayors, so that the Senate and the House can proceed to resolve the impasse on Cha-cha.

Pimentel said the opposition of most of his colleagues and many sectors of the population to the House-inspired Cha-cha stems from their suspicion that congressmen would introduce self-serving amendments like abolishing the three-term limit for them.– Jess Diaz