FVR: New Charter, leaders by June 2006

Former President Fidel Ramos called yesterday for a swift revision of the Constitution to pave the way for a parliamentary form of government and new elections within the next 10 months as a way out of a crisis threatening the Arroyo administration.

"It is a graceful exit option" for President Arroyo, Ramos said.

Mrs. Arroyo is facing growing calls for her resignation following her admission that she talked to "an election official" about ensuring a million-vote victory margin during the May 2004 ballot. She apologized for a "lapse in judgment," but denied influencing the outcome of the vote and dismissed opposition calls to step down.

Ramos had supported Mrs. Arroyo throughout her presidency and his comments were seen as a further sign that her political base is eroding.

He proposed creating a seven-member "high commission" to prepare proposals for a new Constitution, which Congress would then draft and put to a plebiscite by next February, followed by elections in May.

This commission would have to be granted vast powers through a joint congressional resolution in order to allow it to conduct "a strategic investigation in aid of national survival," according to Ramos. This investigation would result in the proposals for the new Constitution.

"My humble proposal is not for the President to resign, not for a snap election, not for a junta... not for a military coup, not for an authoritative democracy, not for martial law, not for a communist takeover," he told the Rotary Club of Manila.

"Whether legal or illegal, constitutional or unconstitutional, none of these will serve us in the long run because they are bound to fail sooner or later," he said.

Ramos said the highest priority was to change the form of government within the next 10 months because the United States-style presidential system has not worked here.

He said the 10-month time frame for changing the form of government is not impossible because France accomplished a similar political transformation in less than a year.

In 1958, the French government was in a crisis due to political instability and problems with its colonies. Then president René Coty appealed to Charles de Gaulle, a former president who had already withdrawn from politics, to become prime minister.

De Gaulle set as a condition for his return that he be given wide emergency powers for six months and that a new constitution be proposed to the French people.

On June 1, 1958, De Gaulle became premier and was given emergency powers for six months by the national assembly.

The proposed constitution was approved in a referendum on Sept. 28 that same year. His supporters won majority of the seats in parliament in November, and by December he was elected president by the parliament. He was inaugurated in January 1959.

Ramos has been calling for constitutional change and a shift to a parliamentary form of government since he served as president in 1992 to 1998. Mrs. Arroyo herself had made the transition a priority of her presidency, but no timetable had been set.

"For this nation to survive, everybody must make sacrifices and some will have to make bigger ones and some smaller ones," Ramos said, referring to Mrs. Arroyo and Vice President Noli de Castro, whose terms end in 2010.

He pointed out that the change in the form of government required cutting the terms of office of elected and appointed officials.

Ramos said he had faxed a copy of his concept to Malacañang through the Office of the Executive Secretary and expected to meet with Mrs. Arroyo either today or on Saturday.

He stressed that he has no interest in being prime minister — the most powerful official in a parliamentary form of government — nor in being part of the high commission that would draft the new constitution.

Meanwhile, opposition Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said the only way to settle the political crisis is for the country’s political leaders — whether from the opposition or the administration — to strictly adhere to mechanisms outlined in the Constitution.

"The mechanism is precisely available in the Constitution. If the President is not willing to step down, you cannot force her to step down because she may have her own reason not to step down," he said.

Judging from Mrs. Arroyo’s apology aired on nationwide television last June 27, Enrile said she was not inclined to resign from office after declaring that she won the last elections despite allegations of poll fraud.

The opposition alleged that Mrs. Arroyo was trying to fix a million-vote victory in last year’s presidential poll after it released an audio recording in which the President was purportedly heard talking to a senior election official, widely believed to be then Commission on Elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

Mrs. Arroyo has apologized for her "lapse in judgment" in calling an election official in what she described as a clumsy bid to protect her vote amid a slow count.

She, however, denied opposition allegations that she attempted to rig the results and rejected calls for her to step down. The opposition has also called for a "snap" election.

"She honestly believes that she won the election regardless of what these supposed tapes are saying... You cannot force her to step down," Enrile said.

He urged the Senate and the House of Representatives to start the impeachment process to help settle the issue once and for all "so that we can quiet the nation."

Enrile aired his stand after his colleagues, Sen. Joker Arroyo and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., quarreled over which way the opposition should go to address the unstable political situation.

The political opposition is now searching for a leader following the death of actor Fernando Poe Jr. last year after an unsuccessful bid for the presidency. Poe’s widow, actress Susan Roces, has refused to lead any uprisings while the rest of the members of the United Opposition have failed to officially agree on their anointed leader.

At the same time, Enrile rejected calls by Mindanao leaders, led by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and former transportation secretary Pantaleon Alvarez, to form a federal state in the country’s largest island if Mrs. Arroyo were removed from office.

"If ever they think of dropping the Constitution, if that is the argument, then I can put up a republic of Cagayan and close Dalton Pass from everybody, including the boundary (between) Region 2 and Region 1. I tell you, we probably have the richest region in the country," said Enrile, who hails from Cagayan Valley.

Apart from Duterte, Senate President Franklin Drilon was reported to have proposed that Malacañang Palace be transferred to his hometown in Iloilo, supposedly to prevent Mrs. Arroyo from being ousted from office. — With Christina Mendez, AP