Nograles may face coup over con-con

A stalwart of the pro-administration Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) threatened to move yesterday for the ouster of Speaker Prospero Nograles if he makes good his pronouncement to support a constitutional convention as the mode of amending the 1987 Constitution.

“If Speaker Nograles will support con-con, he will suffer the fate of then speaker Jose de Venecia,” Sorsogon Rep. Jose Solis told reporters during the weekly Balitaan sa Rembrandt hotel news forum in Quezon city.

Kampi is the political party President Arroyo founded in 1997 when she was a senator.

Sought for comment, Nograles said Solis’ statement was his own and not Kampi’s.

Malacañang, for its part, said it treats the issue as “an internal matter” in Congress and advised its allies in the legislature “to have an earnest dialogue among themselves.”

Solis said the announcement of Nograles that he is willing to “toe the con-con line” of senators is contrary to the stand of most administration congressmen for a constituent assembly (con-ass) path to Charter change.

Solis said that as of yesterday, 173 lawmakers had already signed a Kampi sponsored resolution calling for a con-ass.

He said Nograles’ change of heart might slow the con-ass momentum and upset the timetable for Charter change.

He said that as soon as signatures on the resolution reach 197, the con-ass would be set into motion. And if the senators stay away from the proceedings, the matter would be elevated to the Supreme Court.

“The plebiscite can be done simultaneously with the 2010 elections to ensure that there will be no term extension of elected officials,” Solis said.

The Kampi leader said the people would then be the ultimate judge on the Charter change issue.

“Constitutional convention is the most expensive and the most uncertain mode of changing the Charter. The process could drag to several years, it will do no good to the country,” he said.

Solis said the House speaker might have been influenced by the threat of El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde to lead protest actions against Cha-cha.

“We must not be intimated by the statement of Velarde,” Solis said. “We will push for the constituent assembly, which is the most practical way of amending the Charter,” he said.

Ouster move belittled

In a text message from Las Vegas, Nograles laughed off Solis’ threat to oust him, saying “it’s been his dream since Day 1: to oust everyone.”

Nograles is in Las Vegas, Nevada, to watch the Pacquiao-De la Hoya fight on Saturday and to celebrate the birthday of his wife.

There’s a record of bad blood between Solis and Nograles. Solis reportedly resented Nograles’ failure to reinstate him as House defense committee chair after the ouster of De Venecia. It was De Venecia who had stripped Solis of the position when the latter was on a foreign trip.

Kampi president Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte is believed to be casting a moist eye on Nograles’ post.

Villafuerte first had a falling out with Nograles after he failed to get the chairmanship of the House contingent in the powerful Commission on Appointments.

There are two factions in the 55-member Kampi. The Villafuerte bloc is composed of some eight members including Solis, while the bigger bloc is more loyal to Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, who sits as Kampi chairman. 

Reached for comment on Solis’ claim about a Nograles ouster move, Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III said, “There is no such thing.”

“We just had a leadership change 10 months ago. I don’t think a new coup would sit well with the people,” he said.

Nograles said if there is truth to the new coup rumors, all his critics have to do is show him their numbers and prove that they have the majority on their side.

“Plot? There is no need for that. It’s a numbers game. My position is at the pleasure of the majority and I am ready to go when the majority says so,” he said.

Nograles is the principal author of House Resolution 737, which seeks to amend Sections 2 and 3 of Article 12 of the Charter to allow foreign corporations and associations to own lands in the country.

Yesterday, he defended his openness to the senators’ Con-con proposal.

“If con-ass can’t really happen at all, then let’s take a look at Con-con. I don’t think that is offensive at all,” he said.

“I did not endorse Con-con. My position is that any mode is okay as long as it will realize constitutional reforms,” he said.

At Malacañang, Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Secretary Gabriel Claudio cautioned leaders of the majority coalition against being misled by “speculations or intrigues.”

“While we always regard organizational dynamics in the House as an internal matter, it is advisable that these reports about a coup on Speaker Nograles are verified and validated before they are given credence and before any hasty reaction is made by parties concerned,” he said.

“Just the same, without the Palace interfering in the internal affairs of Congress, perhaps it is best for members of the administration coalition in the House to have an earnest dialogue among themselves,” Claudio said.

Nograles backed

The Speaker’s allies also belittled Solis’ threat.

“I don’t think they have the numbers,” Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra, who chairs the agriculture committee, said.

Rep. Florencio Noel of the party-list group An Waray said, “The coup plot, if it is true, won’t fly because it is based on a highly unpopular issue, which is Cha-cha.”

“We, congressmen from Mindanao, are solidly behind Speaker Nograles (who is from Davao City),” Mujiv Hataman of Anak Mindanao, said,

He said lawmakers from the south number more than 60.

He said if the Kampi threat is real, the ruling Lakas should support Nograles since the Speaker is the party’s president.

Lakas is the biggest political group in the House, followed by Kampi.

For his part, Rep. Rozzano Rufino Biazon of Muntinlupa, who is a Liberal Party member, urged Nograles to stand his ground on Cha-cha and not to give in to the Kampi “blackmail.”

He said Solis’ threat means that there is a “hidden agenda” in Kampi’s Cha-cha push.

“If Constitutional reform is the only intention, then any means to enable amendments should be welcome,” he said. 

‘Speaker doing a good job’

Senior administration lawmakers claimed no knowledge of efforts to oust Nograles, with Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo even praising the speaker for “doing a good job.”

“I know nothing about it, I never talked about that formally or informally. The Speaker is doing a good job, he is instituting reforms little by little,” said Rep. Arroyo, eldest son of President Arroyo.

Mrs. Arroyo is the chairman of the ruling Lakas-CMD party, of which Nograles is president.

Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, another Kampi member, also denied there is a brewing leadership coup in the House.

“There is no truth to the news about the alleged ouster of the Speaker. This may be black propaganda intentionally made to create the public impression that the majority coalition in the House is no longer united on account of the issue of Charter change,” he said.

Another Kampi stalwart, Nueva Ecija Rep. Rodolfo Antonino, downplayed such reports. “It has no basis. Not that I know of. I don’t think so (there’s an ouster plot). It’s never the right time for Cha-cha.”

“Are we a copycat in the House? Just because there was a change in leadership in the Senate, we will also change leadership here? I don’t think there is any plot to oust the Speaker. It’s counter-productive at this point,” a Lakas stalwart and prominent House member told The STAR. He declined to be named.

“He’s in his twilight years. He should stay in the dark,” he said in jest, referring to Solis.

“I personally believe it will not prosper. I don’t know of any move. I think the Speaker is doing a good job,” Romblon Rep. Eleandro Jesus Madrona said.

“If there’s really any move to oust him it’s definitely because of Cha-cha and her extension of term,” opposition lawmaker, Citizens Battle Against Corruption Rep. Joel Villanueva said.

Senators welcome Nograles stand

Senators welcomed Nograles’ pronouncement but said Cha-cha should only be made after 2010.

Sen. Francis Escudero said the congressmen should “first abandon their con-ass initiatives.”

“They can’t have the best of both worlds,” Escudero said.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan, who is supporting Con-con, said “there is no Cha-cha stalemate to break before 2010.”

“We will not allow Con-con before 2010. The Con-con must be done only after President Arroyo (steps down),” Pangilinan said.

Sen. Manuel Roxas II, who filed the bill seeking to convene a Con-con by electing its delegates during the May 2010 general elections, said he was happy that various sectors and even Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales backed Con-con.

“I don’t think it will be costly because the election of delegates will be done along with the 2010 elections. It also has a one-year time frame to finish its work and the process will be transparent,” Roxas, Liberal Party president, said.

Erap for con-con

Meanwhile, former President Joseph Estrada said he is willing to support amendments to the Charter only through Con-con and after the 2010 elections.

“I will support Con-con if it will be conducted after 2010. I will oppose to the hilt any Charter change before the 2010 elections, particularly the extension of the president’s term,” Estrada said.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers, for its part, vowed to help block a resolution filed by Rep. Arroyo on the convening of a con-ass.

“This time, the administration’s avowed justification for the so-called Cha-cha is the economic agenda,” said Antonio Tinio, ACT chairman. 

 “They are pushing for 100-percent foreign ownership in the economy, including land ownership. This will remove whatever restrictions remain in the Constitution that protect the economy from outright plunder and result in the further underdevelopment of our country,” Tinio said. – With Delon Porcalla, Paolo Romero, Jose Rodel Clapano, Aurea Calica, Rainier Allan Ronda