"We can do it if we really believe that amending our Constitution could propel us to a higher growth path," he told reporters. "We should not be stuck with the present system, which has failed us."
At Malacañang, President Arroyo is leaving to Congress the decision whether to amend or change the Constitution via a constitutional convention or a constituent assembly.
Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Mrs. Arroyo wants Congress to debate the issue on the manner by which the Constitution should be amended or changed.
Angara said Congress can convene itself into a constituent assembly and the proposed constitutional changes can be submitted to the people for ratification in a plebiscite later this year or early next year.
"We know what a presidential system is," he said. "We know what a parliamentary system is. We know the other provision we want to revise. To expedite the process, we can have a consensus beforehand on what we should rewrite."
Convening Congress into a constituent assembly is the fastest and most inexpensive mode of amending the Constitution, he added.
Angara said if the lawmakers decide to call a constitutional convention, it would take at least six years before amendments can be effected.
Angara chairs the Senate committee on constitutional amendments. The committee’s 14 members have until today to tell or write their chairman whether they are for a constituent assembly, a convention or a referendum.
The referendum, which would be held together with the May 2004 presidential elections, would ask the people whether they want Cha-cha, and how they would like it done and when.
Angara said an initial study made by his panel’s legal staff showed that the committee would need at least five votes (or a majority of a quorum of eight) to endorse any of the three choices.
"I would like my committee to have a clear decision on this matter so we can make a report to the plenary (session)," he said.
"I don’t want it to hang in the committee because people might say Angara killed it. This is such an important issue, involving the fundamental law of the land no less, that it should be debated by the entire Senate."
Angara said if none of the three options receives five votes, he would like to resort to a Senate rule that empowers five senators to petition the plenary to force any pending measure out of a committee.
"This has been done several times in the past," he said. "So one way or another, I would like this Cha-cha issue to be taken up in plenary session."
Most senators, including Senate President Franklin Drilon and Sen. Joker Arroyo, are for calling a constitutional convention.
Drilon and Arroyo have said there is no time for Cha-cha before the 2004 elections.
"They must be dreaming," said Arroyo, referring to Cha-cha proponents.
Meanwhile, Bunye said "President Arroyo has already stated her position about the proposed Charter change." "She said that although she and her administration would benefit in some amendments in the provisions of the Constitution, she is leaving the debate about changing the Constitution to both houses of Congress."
Bunye was reacting to a June 26-July 3 survey by the Social Weather Stations, which showed that 300 voters in Metro Manila favor Charter change.
Western Samar Rep. Antonio Nachura, chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, said the latest survey was a "major turning point," although the sample of respondents was smaller and the coverage limited to Metro Manila.
Of those favoring a change from a bicameral to unicameral legislature, 32 percent wanted amendments via a constituent assembly, while 41 percent favored a constitutional convention.