House formally kicks off Cha-cha

Leaders of the House of Representatives formally kicked off yesterday their Cha-cha (Charter change) initiative despite opposition from many members of the Senate.

In a news conference, Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and his colleagues announced that they were endorsing Concurrent Resolution 16, which seeks the conversion of the House and the Senate into a constituent assembly to propose constitutional amendments.

"This is a historic day. We are hoping this could launch the process for amending the Constitution," De Venecia said.

He said the resolution and the Charter changes that the envisioned constituent assembly would propose would be "presented before the blazing searchlights of public scrutiny."

He said the resolution would now go to the rules committee, which would calendar it for floor debates as soon as possible.

Western Samar Rep. Antonio Eduardo Nachura, chairman of the committee on constitutional amendments, said the Cha-cha initiative of the House won’t get off the ground without the concurrence of the Senate.

However, he said he was hopeful that senators would "agree to the step taken by the House."

He said opposition Sen. Edgardo Angara, his Senate counterpart, is in favor of Cha-cha and the convening of Congress into a constituent assembly.

Concurrent Resolution 16 also limits the Charter changes that the assembly may come up with to only three areas, namely, form of government, the Constitution’s economic provisions and the mechanism for an orderly transition to the planned new system of government, which is a unicameral parliamentary-type modeled after the French setup.

The third area embodies the proposal to postpone the 2004 presidential elections to 2007 and extend the terms of the President and all elective officials by three years. In 2007, elections would be held for the President and members of Parliament.

Nachura said the postponement scenario is possible but that it would all be up to the members of the constituent assembly.

According to Minority Leader Carlos Padilla (LDP, Nueva Vizcaya), this scenario is the "sinister agenda" behind the resurrected Cha-cha initiative.

He said the ruling party sees defeat in 2004 because of the worsening economic situation and is moving heaven and earth to postpone the elections.

Padilla urged senators to see the ploy and oppose Cha-cha at this time.

Nachura said if the Senate agrees, the House would want to start the constitutional review in February or March next year.

The two chambers of Congress can divide their work schedule between lawmaking and Charter rewriting, he said.