Cha-cha proponents seek Rosales’ help

Cha-cha (Charter change) proponents in the House of Representatives are turning to Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales for help in pushing their constitutional revision initiative.

Representatives Salacnib Baterina of Ilocos Sur and Exequiel Javier of Antique urged Rosales yesterday to help those pushing for Cha-cha to convince senators to support the effort to rewrite the Constitution.

Meanwhile, former secretary general of the consultative commission Lito Monico Lorenzana said the Catholic Church should help in the information campaign on Charter amendments.

Lorenzana said that since the Church seems unopposed to the move to amend the 1987 Charter, it should help the former constitutional commission (con-com) members mount a nationwide campaign on it.

"We want the Church to help explain the nuances of Charter change. We also want the bishops to help... in disseminating information about Charter change to the people," he said, adding former con-com officials fully support Rosales’ position on the issue.

Baterina and Javier made the appeal after reading in the newspapers that the Church leader had announced his support for Cha-cha.

The two administration allies expressed elation over Rosales’ statement, saying, "The ranks of Cha-cha supporters are growing and we can only attribute this to the benefits we can derive from improving our Constitution. If Bishop Rosales sees the merits of Cha-cha, we don’t see any reason why our other legislators cannot."

Baterina and Javier said the Manila bishop should use moral suasion to influence senators to support the constitutional rewriting effort of congressmen and local officials.

"We believe Bishop Rosales’ views will be key in making our senators eventually abandon their opposition to Cha-cha. While congressmen believe that the House can do Cha-cha alone in a joint voting under a constituent assembly (con-ass), it will be better to exhaust all efforts to get both the House and the Senate working together. We remain hopeful the Senate can be our Cha-cha partner," they said. — Jess Diaz, Mike Frialde