Senate decides to kill Cha-cha

The Senate blunted yesterday the late push for Charter change (Cha-cha) by Speaker Jose de Venecia, his House colleagues and President Arroyo.

The House of Representatives made the decision a day after opening floor debates on a resolution calling for Cha-cha through a constitutional convention.

Senate President Franklin Drilon told a news conference that he and his colleagues agreed with opposition Sen. Edgardo Angara, sponsor of the resolution, that there is no more time for exhaustive deliberations on the measure.

"We feel that this should be left to the next Congress (which will convene in July) to tackle," he said.

Drilon said he informed De Venecia about the senators’ decision during a meeting at Malacañang on Tuesday night, which they both attended.

"We will no longer take this up during the remaining 12 or 13 days of sessions before we adjourn next month. There is no point in doing so," Drilon said.

He stressed that his chamber’s top priority will be the approval of the proposed 2004 national budget.

Newly designated Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan said he and his colleagues decided to take the more prudent option of shelving the Cha-cha measure instead of rushing its approval.

"Because of its importance, there should be full-blown debates on this, for which we have run out of time," he said.

He said if De Venecia and his colleagues had early on agreed to push for Charter change through a constitutional convention and not a constituent assembly, there would have been enough time to consider the matter.

"I hope the Speaker will understand and recognize that the Senate has its limitations," he added.

De Venecia and his colleagues had been advocating Cha-cha through a constituent assembly until last week when the Speaker said they were amenable to the convention mode provided that convention delegates be elected simultaneously with the president and other officials on May 10.

The President has expressed her support for the De Venecia proposal and vowed to work for a shift to the parliamentary system.

To be able to approve the national budget and other priority measures, Pangilinan said the Senate will hold morning and afternoon sessions beginning Tuesday until Congress adjourns for the election campaign on Feb. 6.

Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., who chairs the finance committee, will sponsor the budget on Monday afternoon.

Pangilinan said they expect to approve the measure next Friday so it can be printed the following week.

Drilon said the Senate and the House would pass the final version of the budget before the Feb. 6 adjournment.