Cha-cha is last chance for change — JDV

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said yesterday that current efforts to amend the Constitution represent the country’s "last chance for change" to break the "deadlock in our democracy" and eliminate the political standoff that has long marred relations between Malacañang and the Senate.

"Charter change means the last chance for change. It is our last hope to reform our political structure and begin to transform our country," he said.

De Venecia said a shift from a bicameral-presidential system to a unicameral-parliamentary government is the only way for the Philippines to join the roster of prosperous and stable Second World countries by 2016.

He issued the statement a day after Charter change proponents, using the people’s initiative mode, asked the Commission on Elections to verify the 10 million signatures of registered voters needed to introduce amendments to the Constitution.

"If Charter change will succeed, the Philippines could reach the status of a Second World society in 10 years and a First World society in 20 years," De Venecia predicted, noting that the Philippines has been lagging behind its Asian neighbors in terms of economic stability.

He said that unless there is a change in the system of government, the Philippines — which has always been beset by political turmoil — "risks being overtaken by the poorer countries of the region and of South Asia."

De Venecia said if the proposed amendments are realized, the Philippines would "adopt the best features of the parliamentary governments in Europe and Asia and those of the US-style federal system."

"Eventually, we will have to evolve our own indigenous system that will suit the Filipinos’ culture best," he said. "Historically, there have been no coup attempts and impeachment crisis in all the successful parliamentary governments in Europe and Asia."

De Venecia said the shift to a parliamentary system and a unicameral assembly would install in the Philippines a political structure free of any destabilizing coup attempts or frequent impeachment crises, citing the cases of President Arroyo and former President Joseph Estrada.

Majority Leader Prospero Nograles earlier said the House of Representatives can now set its sights on proposals to amend the Constitution after the second impeachment complaint against President Arroyo had been dismissed by the chamber.

With the politically-charged impeachment behind them, Nograles said the House can start deliberating on effecting Charter change by convening Congress into a constituent assembly.

He said they have gathered at least 189 of 195 signatures some congressmen said would be needed to bypass the Senate. Though senators are willing to sit down with congressmen to tackle proposed constitutional amendments, they want the two chambers of Congress to vote separately on those amendments, and for each chamber to muster a vote of three-fourths of its members.

There are currently 238 congressmen and 23 senators.

Mrs. Arroyo’s allies in the House want the Constitution amended by way of constituent assembly, although the government is also open to the idea of a people’s initiative.

De Venecia declared during Mrs. Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address last July 24 that now is the best time and the country’s final chance to shift to a unicameral legislature with a parliamentary form of government.

"This year I believe we have reached a point where Charter reform has become inevitable on the historic and strategic scale. We have awakened a national consensus for constitutional reform," he said.

De Venecia did not mention any timeline but said that congressmen — as representatives of the 84 million Filipinos — will work together and cross party lines to "decide on the great issues of constitutional change."

"More than anything, this last session gives us the final chance to replace through Charter reform an inefficient and inflexible system that, by its weakness, breeds extremist plots to seize power," he said.

De Venecia added that shifting from a presidential system with a bicameral legislature to a parliamentary form of government "is a cause greater than ourselves and our ambitions."

"In these parlous times, politics must become what the Czech intellectual Vaclav Havel calls the art of the impossible — the art of transcending partisan interests in a collective and cooperative effort to make both our country and ourselves better," he said.