No need for new Cha-cha consultations - lawmakers

Administration lawmakers see no need for new consultations with their constituents on the government’s renewed attempts to amend the Constitution that has been exhaustively discussed for several years now.

“There is no serious need for consultations on whether we should amend the Charter. We have surveys after surveys, and we have recorded that they (people) are in favor of Charter change,” said Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia, who is also the deputy speaker for the Visayas.

He said even the Catholic Church, which initially opposed Charter change, became amenable eventually. The only problem is what specific amendments would be made.

“People want change, but we have not agreed on how that change must come to pass,” Garcia said, citing the Senate-House of Representatives gridlock on what mode to take – a constituent assembly or a constitutional convention.

Garcia, a known constitutionalist, made known to the panel of La Union Rep. Victor Ortega, chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, that the public’s “interest in Charter change is waning because of existing realities.”

He cited time constraints, plus the fact that nobody from the national officials down to the lowest local official would entertain a change in the form of government. 

“Let’s forget about Charter change after 2010, or even the next five years after that. The reason is that the President, the senators and congressmen would not want any disturbance in their existing terms,” Garcia said.

Nueva Ecija Rep. Rodolfo Antonino objected to the proposed consultations because the need for change has already been well established.

“It seems that there is no right time for Charter change,” he said.

Ilocos Norte Rep. Roquito Ablan admitted that he did not conduct a consultation, contrary to what the Ortega committee agreed upon before Congress’ Oct. 10 recess, because all of the local officials were open to Charter change.

“I postponed it (consultation). But we have already disseminated the questions (to the constituents). They (local leaders) are all willing to come,” he told the committee.

Camarines Sur Rep. Felix Alfelor said his constituents were unanimous, borne out of the Oct. 23 consultations he conducted, which was published in the Journal Group of Companies and the government-owned IBC-13 television station.

Agusan del Norte Rep. Edelmiro Amante said he had no time to conduct a consultation.

Party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros of Anakpawis said that aside from Alfelor, nobody among the lawmakers “did their homework” and discussed the substantive issues on Charter change.

House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor had earlier warned the congressmen that any Charter amendment to change the form of government should be made until the Supreme Court resolves whether the House or the Senate should meet jointly and whether the two chambers will vote jointly or separately in case a constituent assembly will be convened to amend the Constitution.

Ortega reported last August that 118 members of the House, or 91.4 percent, wanted to amend the Constitution, while 11, or .08 percent, opposed to it.

Of those polled, 64 congressmen wanted to convene a constituent assembly, 49 favored a constitutional convention, while six others wanted a people’s initiative, which the Supreme Court ruled as unconstitutional.

Seventy-three lawmakers wanted Charter change done before the May 2010 elections, 26 others insisted this should only be implemented after the presidential polls, while 23 suggested this should “coincide” or could be synchronized with the elections.

Eighty-eight congressmen were open to a shift from the presidential to a parliamentary form of government, while 60 were in favor of federalism, which Speaker Prospero Nograles and even opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. have endorsed.