'Now is the perfect time for Charter change'

MANILA, Philippines - It is best for the country to amend the 1987 Constitution while President Aquino is in power, Sen. Edgardo Angara said yesterday.

“This is the perfect opportunity for a favorable constitutional change, because we have a president who is truly not interested in extending his term,” Angara said.

He said Charter change (Cha-cha) was rejected in the past because the proponents were perceived to be aiming mainly to extend their term.

While some legislators are pushing for Charter change to amend only economic provisions, Angara, a former Senate president, urged Congress to go beyond economic reforms and consider changing the political structure.

“Our weak political structure is the root cause of our slow progress. We should amend the constitutional provisions that make us so highly bureaucratic,” he said.

“We have to empower the local government. We have to decentralize and transfer more control from the center, from Malacañang and Manila to the provinces. Our country will definitely grow,” he added.

Angara also encouraged political parties to take a stand on the Cha-cha issue in time for the midterm elections next year.

Last week, Sen. Franklin Drilon, a stalwart of the Liberal Party, said he is hoping that his political party will reach a consensus on Cha-cha and have a stand on the issue as soon as possible.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. have been initiating moves to look into amending the 25-year-old Constitution but the President has declared that he is not keen on prioritizing Cha-cha during his term.

Meanwhile, in order to break the disagreement between the Senate and House of Representatives over the Cha-cha issue, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal suggested the creation of a constitutional convention (con-con) to amend the Charter.

Macalintal said con-con would be a better way to amend the Constitution considering that the Senate and House of Representatives could not agree on how they will vote on proposals to amend the Constitution.

The House maintains that the vote shall be “jointly,” which means that if the vote of three-fourths of all the members of the Senate and the House is arrived at, then the amendment is approved.

The Senate, on the other hand, claims that voting shall be “separately” which means that each chamber should get the three-fourth vote of their respective members to validate an amendment of the Charter.

Macalintal added if the government would choose con-con, the law that will create it would provide for the qualifications of the delegates to assure a competent composition of the body.

He said delegates must be appointed and not elected to prevent additional cost for the government and further political discord.

To avoid possible concentration of delegates coming from a particular party, Macalintal said political parties could be given the privilege to nominate their delegates on the basis of proportional representation from parties duly registered with the Comelec. - With Mayen Jaymalin