Gibo's senatorial slate to push for Charter change

MANILA, Philippines - Senatorial candidates of Lakas-Kampi standard-bearer Gilbert Teodoro Jr. will push for Charter change (Cha-cha) if they win in the May 2010 elections.

“We will support our presidential candidate’s plan to call for a constitutional convention (con-con) at the start of his term to propose amendments to the Charter,” lawyer Raul Lambino told reporters yesterday.

“We want a con-con, not a con-ass (constituent assembly) or a people’s initiative,” he said.

A con-ass is Congress itself convening to consider Cha-cha proposals.

Among presidential aspirants, it is Teodoro who has so far publicly made known his stand in favor of amending the Constitution.

He wants to launch the Cha-cha effort at the start of his term so he won’t be accused of being motivated by self-interest.

The former defense secretary is advocating a presidential system with a unicameral or one-chamber legislature, instead of the present two-chamber Congress, to promote “synergy” in legislation.

He also wants the Charter’s economic provisions changed to allow foreign ownership of land with certain restrictions.

Lambino led the Arroyo administration’s failed Cha-cha campaign through people’s initiative in 2006.

In October that year, the Supreme Court junked the initiative as a “gigantic fraud” and a “grand deception.”

Lambino said he would support a French-style parliamentary system like the one tried by the late President Ferdinand Marcos in the 1980s.

“The president should continue to be elected by the people. He will be assisted in running the country by a prime minister who will be elected by parliament,” he said.

He said his proposal is similar to the system envisioned by Teodoro, except that there is a prime minister in his suggested setup.

When Marcos tried the French-style parliamentary system, he remained president with Cesar Virata as his prime minister and finance minister.

The failed Lambino-led Cha-cha effort in 2006 was intended to set the stage for a pure parliamentary system headed by a prime minister elected by parliament and with a ceremonial president.

There are speculations that President Arroyo is seeking a congressional seat in Pampanga’s second district so she could push for Cha-cha and accomplish as a lawmaker what she failed to achieve as president.

Critics claim she wants the present presidential system replaced by a parliamentary form of government under which she could become prime minister. 

Gibo backers

Political leaders in Cagayan Valley and the Ilocos Region have endorsed Teodoro’s presidential bid.

“We all believe he is the best man for Malacañang,” Cagayan Valley Gov. Alvaro Antonio said of Teodoro after the latter’s speaking engagement in Tuguegarao City the other day.

“Secretary Teodoro tops all the other presidential candidates with his intelligence and leadership, which are necessary for the job,” Antonio said.

“He has the only credible platform of government among the aspirants.”

Teodoro is the only Ilocano-speaking candidate in the presidential race.

The province’s local chief executives have pledged more than 400,000 votes for Teodoro in the May 2010 elections, or half of the province’s estimated 800,000 voters based on the latest Commission on Elections data.

Earlier, the two dominant political clans in Isabela threw their support behind Teodoro, while Ilocos Norte Gov. Michael Keon led a group of political leaders in taking their oaths as new Lakas-Kampi-CMD members.

Aside from Antonio, Vice Gov. Bobby Fausto and City Mayor Delfin Ting welcomed Teodoro during his arrival.

“We will campaign hard for him in Cagayan,” Fausto said. “Cagayeños, when they see a candidate worth supporting, will do everything in their power to ensure his or her victory.”

Ting said Teodoro has a blueprint for advancing the province’s rural economy through the building of more infrastructure and development projects in the province’s rural areas.

“Secretary Teodoro is that unusual leader – the best of his generation – who comes across as sincere and intelligent, and who knows what the job of a president requires from day one,” the mayor said.

In Isabela, Rep. Faustino Dy III (3rd Dist), the Lakas-Kampi-CMD candidate for governor, and his running mate, Rep. Rodolfo Albano III (1st Dist), said Teodoro’s accomplishments and good track record will propel him to the presidency. – With Jaime Laude