House leaders restore ‘no-el’

House leaders have restored a provision scrapping the May 2007 elections in their draft Constitution, five congressmen belonging to the Liberal Party revealed yesterday.

Representatives Nereus Acosta of Bukidnon, Manuel Mamba of Cagayan, Henedina Abad of Batanes, Joseph Emilio Abaya of Cavite and Hermilando Mandanas of Batangas told a news conference that "sneaky no-el" had returned under Section 1 of the Transitory Provisions of the proposed revised Charter.

They said by restoring "no-el," the House would in effect extend the terms of its members as well as senators, governors, mayors and other local officials.

The disputed section reads:

"The Unicameral Parliamentary System and the Parliament provided herein shall begin immediately after the ratification of these amendments, with the present Congress converted into the Interim Parliament and all members thereof shall become automatic members of the Interim Parliament until June 30, 2007, except for the senators elected in May 2004 who shall serve as members of Parliament until June 30, 2010. The Interim Parliament shall set the first elections under the new system and synchronize therewith the elections for all local officials, except those of the barangay."

Acosta said by giving the interim parliament the prerogative to determine the date for the next elections, the House was "restoring ‘no-el’ in its latest version of Cha-cha (Charter change)."

"What if they set the elections not in May next year but sometime in 2010 or beyond? That means that the period between June 30, 2007, when their terms are supposed to expire, and the date of the next elections would be the term extension," he said.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Constantino Jaraula, chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, could not be reached for comment as he is in the United States.

Three weeks ago, his committee, upon motion of Representatives Teodoro Locsin Jr. of Makati City and Roilo Golez of Parañaque City, voted overwhelmingly to reject "no-el" and term extension, including the proposed increase in the retirement age of justices and judges from 70 to 75 years.

The vote was taken after Catholic bishops expressed strong opposition to "no-el," prompting President Arroyo to reject the idea of scrapping the 2007 elections and extending the terms of senators, congressmen and local officials.

Reached for comment, Locsin conceded that the second sentence of Section 1 of the proposed Transitory Provisions could be interpreted in the way that Acosta and his LP colleagues understood it.

"Its ambiguity betrays an attempt at trickery. But I don think that House leaders would stoop that low to trick our people," he said.

Majority Leader Prospero Nograles said the decision to reject "no-el" and term extension stands.

"The trouble here is that those who are against what we are doing are giving anything we do a different meaning. There is no malice in the language of Section 1. We are not hiding anything. If they want to make it clearer, we will be prepared to accept their amendments, provided that we mean the same thing," he said.

Sharing Acosta’s interpretation of Section 1, Abad declared: "This is a sneaky no-el restored."

"The excuse that can be forwarded is that the interim parliament needs the critical transition period to establish the new system and be familiar with it," she said.

Mamba said "no-el" and term extension are "incentives" for congressmen to sign the majority bloc’s resolution to bypass the Senate on Cha-cha.

He said these "sweeteners" would enable Cha-cha proponents to gather 195 signatures in their plan to bypass the Senate.

The five House members belong to the LP bloc led by Senate President Franklin Drilon, who is party president.

Another LP wing launched in Manila last Wednesday a so-called "people’s initiative" to amend the Constitution.