Palace dares Cha-cha critics anew to debate

Malacañang reiterated its challenge yesterday to critics of President Arroyo’s initiative to amend the Constitution to "come down from their ivory tower" and debate the issue openly.

Palace officials earlier asked opponents to discuss Mrs. Arroyo’s plan to change the country’s form of government based on its merits instead of imputing malice on the administration.

"We challenge critics of the move to amend the Constitution to come down from their ivory tower and feel the beat of the grass roots," said Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, Mrs. Arroyo’s spokesman.

He was apparently referring to a people’s initiative signature campaign that had gathered wide national support.

"Now is the time to engage in an informed and transparent debate cutting across political, religious or demographic lines. We cannot lose this opportunity of a lifetime to change our nation for the better."

Bunye also welcomed an announcement from the largest organization of evangelical churches in the country, the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC), to help inform the public on the issue.

Bishop Efraim Tendero, PCEC national director, said they want Filipinos to make an informed choice.

"Our member bodies are conducting their own information drive on Charter change and we are encouraging our leaders to involve their constituencies in the campaign in different areas nationwide," Tendero said in a statement.

The PCEC — made up of 85 denominations, 130 missions and over 20,000 local churches — was the first major religious organization to express support for the move to amend the Constitution.

Tendero said they launched the information drive "so that people will be able to articulate and hear everything about this pressing issue on the need for constitutional reforms."

So far, "based on the campaigns we’ve had, those who joined the discussions had a positive outlook toward Charter change," he said.

Info drive set

Meanwhile, the Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas (League of Barangays of the Philippines) is also mounting a public information drive.

"We will call a national assembly of the Liga in the next two weeks to plan this massive campaign, which will involve all of the 42,000 barangays in the country," said Liga national president James Marty Lim.

"Everyone is welcome to participate in the discussions, whether they are for or against the proposed amendments being proposed through the people’s initiative," he said. "We need all the help we can get to help explain to the people the details and implications of the proposed shift to a parliamentary system of government."— With Edu Punay, Marvin Sy