Senate to tackle con-ass Monday

The Senate will tackle next week the controversial concurrent resolution of the House of Representatives convening Congress into a constituent assembly (con-ass) to introduce amendments to the 1987 Constitution.

Senate President Franklin Drilon said the House resolution is scheduled for debate among senators when Congress resumes session on Monday after the holiday break.

Drilon said the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, revision of codes and laws headed by Sen. Richard Gordon will start the hearings on House Resolution No. 26 on Wednesday.

The House has forwarded to the Senate the resolution calling on the two legislative chambers to propose amendments to the Constitution and pave the way for a change in the political system from the present US-style presidential system to a federal, parliamentary type of government.

Drilon said the Senate, sitting as a Committee of the Whole, will also continue hearings on Tuesday on the delayed national budget, even though the House has yet to transmit its actions on the general appropriations bill for 2006.

The Senate has conducted 14 hearings on the proposed budgets of nine executive departments and line agencies since Nov. 15.

It will be a busy session for the Senate starting next week as the committee on defense and national security headed by Sen. Rodolfo Biazon will also resume its investigation into the wiretapping controversy.

Biazon said he will present five witnesses who will bolster earlier allegations of massive fraud during the 2004 elections.

Imperative

Local officials, on the other hand, pressed their call for Congress to join the initiative in rewriting the Constitution.

Local officials led by Catanduanes Gov. Leandro Verceles Jr. stressed the need for Charter amendments, saying congressmen and senators have been so embroiled in politics that they may have forgotten their mandate was to enact laws to benefit the people.

"The people ultimately will always have the final say. But more than that, we need Charter change because our lawmakers have forgotten to do their job and that is to enact laws that will benefit the country and the Filipino people," the former Catanduanes lawmaker said.

Verceles said the clashes between congressmen and senators on some issues "have impeded the legislative mill from operating as smoothly as possible."

He added the politics practiced today is no longer contributing to the good of the country, only aggravating the prevailing conditions.

Angono, Rizal Mayor Gerry Calderon, for his part, said the need for Charter change was "real and very imperative."

Calderon, secretary general of the 1,502-strong League of Municipalities, said lawmakers from both chambers of Congress would never agree on issues to bring good for the country but would only seek to promote their interests.

He said the time had come for the people to make up their minds about initiating major changes in the political system to enable the country to move forward and become globally competitive.

"(A) unicameral parliamentary form of government will speed up legislation as well as set up the proper forum to effect changes in leadership if and when a political or economic crisis occurs," Calderon said.

Both Verceles and Calderon agreed that a smoother unicameral legislative department would remove gridlock from government and hasten the flow of foreign investments to the country.

Earlier, governors led by Tomas Joson III of Nueva Ecija, Enrique Garcia of Bataan, Ben Evardone (Eastern Samar), Rosette Lerias (Southern Leyte) and Edward Plaza (Agusan del Sur) had initially endorsed a people’s initiative as the most practical and democratic way of amending the 1987 Constitution.

Municipal mayors led by League of Municipalities president and Binalonan, Pangasinan mayor Ramon Guico Jr. had pledged to support the nationwide signature drive and use the people’s initiative under the Constitution as the means to amend the basic law of the land.

Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn said the failure of Congress to enact vital economic reform measures is the primary reason why the present administration is being hounded and blamed for the prevailing conditions of the country. - With Cecille Suerte Felipe