Senate can also Cha-cha this year

MANILA, Philippines - A presidential endorsement can help the Senate finish deliberations on the proposal to amend the Constitution within the year, the same deadline set by the House of Representatives, Senate Majority Leader Vicento Sotto III said yesterday.

“If the President endorses then it is possible. If not then the deliberations could take a long time. But if it is limited to one (amendment) at a time, then there is a chance,” Sotto said.

He said the main proponents of Charter change, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., should stick to their plan of limiting amendments to the economic provisions of the Constitution.

Enrile, Belmonte and House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said they are pushing for changes in the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution, particularly the ratio of foreign ownership in certain industries.

The congressional leaders have discussed their proposal with the President, who in turn has tasked his economic team to study the matter.

Enrile and Belmonte have stressed that any move to make changes in the political provisions of the Charter would be rejected outright.

“If it’s limited to the economic provisions, then it has a big chance (of getting passed). President Aquino has until 2016 and the reason why some of our colleagues are pushing for it now is because they are very confident that President Aquino will not abuse his power towards this and will not be interested to be prime minister,” Sotto said.

“That was the problem before, so that is why there is some fear (of Charter change), especially if this is being proposed very close to the elections because there could be a perpetration of power,” he added.