Palace: Now is the best time for Cha-cha

Malacañang said yesterday that President Arroyo would not give up on her desire for Charter change and would utilize her Cabinet to promote the idea to the public.

"The best time to push for Charter change is now when our political system has reached a low point," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.

"The public is now becoming aware of the pitfalls of the system and these have resulted in a politics of division," he added.

The President said she assigned Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz to draft the administrative order on the consultative Constitutional Commission while Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes was assigned to take care of the campaign at the grassroots level.

"The President really intends to bring this to the people. She will continue what she is doing, either personally or through her representatives," Bunye said.

Aside from Cruz and Reyes, other Cabinet officials were also asked to explain Charter change to the people. "We expect the Cabinet members to be proactive with the media" in promoting the move, he said.

The Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted in May indicated that 70 percent of Filipinos see no need for Cha-cha, but 73 percent also admitted they knew little or nothing about the Constitution.

The survey also showed that while only 27 percent of respondents said they had extensive or at least partial knowledge of the Charter, public interest in constitutional amendments shot up from 20 percent in June 2003 to 30 percent in May this year.

Bunye had said earlier that the President would go back to the campaign trail for Cha-cha and use every opportunity to sell it to the people as this was an opportunity to change the current political system, which the President said had "degenerated." — Aurea Calica