De Venecia: No turning back on Cha-cha

There is no turning back on Charter change (Cha-cha) and the planned shift to the parliamentary system, Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said yesterday.

He told a news conference that if the Senate continues to "stonewall" on Cha-cha and refuses to convene with the House as a constituent assembly (con-ass) to propose constitutional amendments, governors, mayors and other local officials would launch their own Cha-cha initiative in February.

"There would then be two parallel moves to amend the Constitution: the constituent assembly and the people’s initiative to be launched by local officials to directly effect constitutional reforms," De Venecia said.

Sen. Edgardo Angara clarified, though, that the Senate is open to Charter change through con-ass but opposes the recommendations of the presidential consultative commission (con-com) to scrap the May 2007 elections and extend the elective terms of senators, congressmen and local officials.

He said it is misleading for some sectors to say that the Senate is against Charter change as senators also hold frequent dialogues on the issue and have agreed to amend the Constitution.

Angara stressed that a resolution submitted by 18 senators last year indicated their preference for amending the Constitution through a constitutional convention (con-con).

"When you agree to constitutional convention or constituent assembly, that means you are favorable to constitutional change and that’s the principle. Is anyone in the Senate against constitutional change? Hardly," he said, noting that only around three senators are against cha-cha by whatever method.

De Venecia said he and his colleagues in the House would indeed prefer that senators agree to sit down with them and approve a resolution that they passed three weeks ago.

The resolution urges the two chambers to convene as a constituent assembly to propose Charter amendments. Senators have said the measure is not among their list of priorities.

De Venecia said Angara assured him last weekend when they attended a mini political summit that a majority of senators would attend the constituent assembly, "which we will convene in late January or early February."

"That is the assurance we received from Sen. Angara, who chairs the Senate committee on constitutional amendments," he said.

Asked which senators would attend con-ass, Angara said the Speaker mentioned Senators Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Juan Ponce Enrile, Manuel Villar, Ralph Recto, Lito Lapid and Richard Gordon.

"We are begging them to sit down with us. All we need is for them to attend" the constituent assembly, he said.

With senators in attendance, the con-ass could then propose constitutional amendments by a "three-fourths vote of all the members of Congress" as required by the Constitution.

De Venecia has argued that the Charter does not require the two chambers to vote separately.

"The Constitution is clear. The vote required to propose constitutional changes is three-fourths of all members of Congress. There should be no room for doubt. We are optimistic that the Supreme Court will sustain this interpretation if it is challenged," he added.

According to estimates of congressmen, 195 con-ass members, even if they are all members of the House, can approve Cha-cha. That number would encompass three-fourths of the combined membership of 260 (236 congressmen and 24 senators) in the two chambers of Congress.

Senators and many lawyers and framers of the Constitution hold the view, though, that the required three-fourths vote should be obtained with the Senate and the House voting separately. Otherwise, if the larger chamber could prevail over the smaller one on account of its numerical superiority, the spirit of bicameralism and the system of checks and balances would be negated, they said.

Angara expressed belief that the Senate would agree to the con-ass proposal, which he said had been confirmed earlier by Senate President Franklin Drilon and Minority Leader Pimentel.

Both Drilon and Pimentel agreed that con-ass is the more practical method since a constitutional convention would entail huge expenses.

Asked to comment on the con-com’s proposal to scrap the May 2007 polls, Angara said the con-ass is under no obligation to heed the recommendations of the commission.

"I think the people will reject it and I will reject it. The Senate, I think, will reject it," he said.

For his part, De Venecia said he personally considers it immoral for lawmakers to benefit from their actions.

"That is the general rule. We should not benefit from what we do as lawmakers," he said.

However, he said it would be up to the political parties to adopt or reject the con-com’s proposal. — With Marvin Sy