JDV: GMA out to extend term via Cha-cha

MANILA, Philippines – President Arroyo is out to extend her stay in office beyond 2010 through Charter change, her former principal ally in Congress, Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr., told reporters over the weekend.

De Venecia said the Arroyo administration promised federalism to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) so it can seek amendment to the 1987 Constitution.

“Federalism is their entry point to a parliamentary system. And under a parliamentary system, President Arroyo will become prime minister, effectively extending her term,” he said.

Responding to a question, De Venecia said the Arroyos are probably afraid of what might happen to them after her term expires on June 30, 2010. He did not elaborate.

Critics of the President have vowed to file corruption and even plunder charges against her after her term.

De Venecia, as Speaker and the President’s principal ally in the legislature, moved heaven and earth in 2006 and the early part of 2007 to undertake Cha-cha initially through a people’s initiative and later through Congress sitting as a constituent assembly.

He revealed that under a deal he and former President Fidel Ramos had struck with Mrs. Arroyo shortly after the July 8, 2005 resignation of the “Hyatt 10” group of senior administration officials, the nation would shift to a parliamentary system.

“It was our agreement that she would stay on as president under the parliamentary system, and I would become prime minister. That was the deal with President Ramos,” the former Speaker recalled.

He said had the agreement been carried out, Mrs. Arroyo’s stay in office would have effectively been extended since she would have a new term as president under the envisioned parliamentary system.

Mrs. Arroyo’s government was believed to have been on the verge of collapse on July 8, 2005 when senior officials led by then Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and Education Secretary Florencio Abad quit their posts at the height of the “Hello, Garci” scandal.

They not only resigned but asked their Malacañang boss to give up the presidency. Their plea was followed by similar resignation calls from former President Corazon Aquino, then Senate President Franklin Drilon, the Makati Business Club, and other sectors.

It was Ramos and De Venecia who saved the beleaguered Mrs. Arroyo. The two, together with other Lakas members, showed up in Malacañang and expressed their continued support for the President, enabling her to weather the most serious threat to her presidency.

Shortly after that crisis, Ramos repeatedly urged Mrs. Arroyo to cut short her term and shift to a parliamentary system starting in 2007. When his pleas fell on deaf ears, he said his support for the President began waning.

Ramos and De Venecia eventually lost their influence in the administration.

De Venecia would later lose his House post as “punishment” for the Senate revelations of his son Joey regarding tens of millions of dollars in commissions and kickbacks allegedly involved in the aborted $329-million national broadband network contract awarded to Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

The former Speaker said administration officials did not have to promise federalism to the MILF “since they could have worked within the framework of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.”

“The federal states of Malaysia are not based on racial divisions. They are not based on racial, tribal lines. There is no need to create separate communities through several states. You just have to give them fair treatment,” he said.

He said the underlying cause of the peace and order problem in Mindanao is “years of poverty and underdevelopment, years of neglect.”

On Thursday, he proposed a P50-billion mini-Marshall development plan for Mindanao.

The President’s congressmen-allies are set to decide today whether to push for Cha-cha and what mode of amending the Constitution they would pursue – with Congress itself doing the job as a constituent assembly (con-ass) or Congress calling for the election of a constitutional convention.

A survey conducted by the House committee on constitutional amendments among congressmen showed that an overwhelming 94 percent of them are for Cha-cha and con-ass.  — Jess Diaz