'No constituent assembly after SONA amid Senate boycott threat'

MANILA, Philippines - Congressmen assured senators yesterday that they would not play a trick on them and convene a constituent assembly (con-ass) after President Arroyo delivers her last State of the Nation Address (SONA) before a joint session of Congress on July 27.

“There is no plan to pull a fast one on senators by convening those who will attend the joint session for the SONA into a con-ass immediately after the President’s address,” Deputy Majority Leader Juan Edgardo Angara said.

He said if House leaders would convene con-ass, it would be days after Mrs. Arroyo’s SONA, her ninth and last before she ends her term on June 30, 2010.

Rep. Florencio “Bem” Noel of the party-list group An Waray, a close associate and Ateneo fraternity brother of Speaker Prospero Nograles, said senators should know that Nograles “will not do a trick on them.”

“Their fears are unfounded. They should trust in the Speaker’s sense of propriety and respect for fellow lawmakers,” he said.

“The SONA is the President’s show and is not about con-ass,” he said.

Several senators have announced that they would boycott the SONA for fear that Nograles and his colleagues might take advantage of their presence and convene a con-ass after the President’s address.

The senators said the congressmen might use their presence to legitimize the planned con-ass.

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson earlier said he would rather join a rally against con-ass than attend the July 27 joint session and hear Mrs. Arroyo’s “lies” in her televised address.

Sen. Francis Escudero, a former congressman, said he would just listen to the SONA on television.

Nograles had repeatedly announced that they would convene con-ass after the President’s SONA.

Nueva Ecija Rep. Rodolfo Antonino and other Charter change (Cha-cha) proponents have been talking to individual senators to try to convince them to join the envisioned con-ass.

Antonino has been parroting the arguments advanced by Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte in advocating a Senate-less constituent assembly.

He said the institutional involvement of the House and the Senate is not needed in con-ass and that what is needed is the individual participation of members of Congress.

Cha-cha proponents are aiming for a three-fourths vote of the combined membership of the House and the Senate, or 220 of 292, for any Cha-cha proposal.

But last week, Nograles said, “we may never get the needed three-fourths vote.”

Even if they get 220 votes, the bigger hurdle that they will have to overcome is the question on the constitutionality of a Senate-less con-ass, which senators and Cha-cha critics have vowed to bring to the Supreme Court. 

‘Frivolous’

Mrs. Arroyo’s election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said it’s “too frivolous, if not outright ridiculous” for her critics to think that she would run for congresswoman under a new administration and aim for the post of prime minister.

“I don’t think the candidate who would be elected president in 2010 would just allow that to happen. Otherwise, he or she is too weak as a leader and undeserving of the people’s vote and confidence,” Macalintal told The STAR.

“For sure, senators Manny Villar, Mar Roxas, Chiz Escudero, Loren Legarda, Mayor Jojo Binay and other presidentiables would not allow President Arroyo to become ‘Prime Minister’ if anyone of them is elected President in 2010,” he stressed.

“Once elected as President, he or she has the complete command of entire bureaucracy and is the commander in chief of the military,” he said.

“Hence, it would be impossible to oust him or her as president except by people uprising for reasons that caused the ouster of former Presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada,” he added.

As for the issue of whether President Arroyo should resign from her post if she decides to run for Congress, Macalintal said she doesn’t have to.

“An elected official is not deemed resigned from his present position even if he runs for another or different elective office. Hence, even if President Arroyo decides to run for a congressional post in 2010, she is not deemed resigned as President which means that she continues to serve her term until noon of June 30, 2010 as provided under the Constitution,” he explained.

“In other words, there is no legal impediment for any elected official to retain or remain in his position even if he runs for a position other than the one he is presently holding until the expiration of the term of office for which he was previously elected,” the poll lawyer said.

“If the President would be asked to resign just because she is still in power, then the same should also apply to all incumbent elected officials who are similarly situated since they too have their own government offices and public funds within their control,” he said. “Otherwise, it would be discriminatory if only the President would be asked to resign when there is no law requiring her or any elected official to tender his or her resignation once he or she seeks another elective office,” he said.

“Only appointive officials are deemed resigned from their positions once they filed their certificates of candidacy for any elective position,” he pointed out.

Advice from old friend

In Dagupan City, a former friend and travel companion of President Arroyo advised her to retire and follow the example of former presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos.

Georgina “Gina” de Venecia, wife of former speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said Mrs. Arroyo “can still turn around and leave a good legacy for the Filipino people.”

Mrs. De Venecia also told the Pangasinan Tri-Media Association that she is running for congresswoman in her husband’s district.

She said her friendship with Mrs. Arroyo – though now a thing of the past – had deep roots. She said her father Dr. Jose Perez and Mrs. Arroyo’s mother Dr. Eva Macapagal were friends and classmates at the University of Santo Tomas.

Mrs. Arroyo was the running mate of the former speaker in the 1998 presidential elections. They had a falling out when De Venecia’s son and namesake Joey dragged Mrs. Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo into the anomalous $329-million ZTE-NBN national broadband deal.

Mrs. De Venecia said the President is determined to stay in power and that it’s her marching orders that explain the lawmakers’ scrambling to get con-ass approved.

“So she’s really the brains behind con-ass. She refuses to leave. She’s afraid that several plunder cases will be filed against her,” Mrs. De Venecia added.

She said she hopes the administration’s insistence on keeping itself in power will not result in political turmoil. “But something will break the camel’s back and hindi na nila pwedeng gawin ang mga masasamang gusto nilang gawin (They can’t do anymore the evil things they want to do).”

She added that she is not afraid to face former Philippine National Police chief Arturo Lomibao as her possible opponent in the 2010 congressional polls.

“I think the general will be facing the modern Urduja,” she said, referring to the legendary warrior princess who was said to have ruled the old kingdom of Tawalisi in Pangasinan. – With Edu Punay and Eva Visperas