Arroyo vows to fight for direct vote amid Cha-cha moves

President Arroyo vowed yesterday that she will resist all attempts to take away "the direct power (of Filipinos) to install their leaders" in the May 2004 elections.

Her vow was made amid moves in Congress to initiate Charter changes that would shift the present form of government from a presidential to a parliamentary system.

"We must ensure that elections will be held in 2004. We must respect the desire of the people to have the direct power to install their leaders," the President said. "I will resist all attempts to breach this principle."

Mrs. Arroyo issued this statement yesterday, citing persistent questions being raised on her "neutral" stand on the Charter change debate in Congress.

"I have already said what I have to say on this matter," she said.

The President apparently implied that she prefers a presidential system of government than the parliamentary form being pushed by House Speaker Jose de Venecia.

In a parliamentary system, a prime minister is elected by the majority party in a unicameral parliament. The people vote their district’s representatives to the legislature.

In a presidential form of government, a president is installed in office directly by the voting public.

Presidential chief of staff Rigoberto Tiglao, however, said that Mrs. Arroyo may "not necessarily" prefer the presidential to the parliamentary system.

Tiglao cited the French government, which is parliamentary in form but has a president — elected directly by the people — running the government.

"Right now, she has not gotten involved in establishing whether she is for that (system of government). She is not really so much involved, but the debate is within Congress and with our people," he said.

Tiglao added that the President is more concerned about the "Mindanao situation and other economic problems" rather than the Charter change debate.

He also recalled that the President said last year that she is in favor of an elected constitutional convention (Con-con) as the mode of amending the Constitution, rather than convening a constituent assembly.

"(Charter change) should be by Con-con. But whatever change, it cannot be by an assembly. That was her statement last year," he said, adding, "any change would have to be after the (2004) elections."

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, the principal proponent of changing the government from a presidential to a federal system, said he could live with the President’s preference for a presidential form of government.

"My advocacy is federalism and that system can co-exist with the presidential form of government. The United States is federal, but presidential," he said.

On the other hand, Sens. Joker Arroyo and Francis Pangilinan said that the President’s indicated preference for a presidential form of government indicates that she opposes Charter change.

Arroyo said the President may also be reacting to a statement issued by religious groups El Shaddai and Iglesia ni Kristo saying Charter change was only a "destabilizing initiative."

"Maybe she was reacting to the position raised by the El Shaddai and the Iglesia ni Kristo opposing Charter change. The Catholic Church has also raised its objection to the move to change the Constitution. I think she is not also for Charter change," he said.

Pangilinan, for his part, said the President’s preference for a presidential system supports the position taken by most of the senators that Charter change debates should be set aside in the meantime.

The government should, instead, focus "on addressing more pressing concerns such as law and order in Mindanao, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and the growing budget deficit," he said.

In a joint statement issued earlier, the two religious groups said that with the 2004 elections coming up, "any move to amend the Constitution at this point will be perceived by our people as an act of advancing personal political interests by the present elected officials at the expense of the national interest."

Cory opposes constituent assembly

Former President Corazon Aquino, in a statement, opposed the moves by Congress to amend the Constitution through a constituent assembly.

"I strongly believe that our people must fully participate in this process of change. If the majority of our people so desire such a change, then it should be done by a fully elected constitutional convention," she said.

Aquino believes that while the Constitution may need to be amended, "amending the Constitution at this time will further divide our already deeply fragmented society."

She called on members of Congress to set aside the issue of Charter change "until a more auspicious time," and focus instead on finding ways by which Filipinos can be united. — With Jose Rodel Clapano