Charter change still on House agenda

MANILA, Philippines - The Charter change (Cha-cha) proposal of Speaker Prospero Nograles is still on the House agenda for the last two weeks of session of the House of Representatives.

Resolution 737 is part of a long list of bills Nograles said he and his colleagues would try to approve this week and next week before their mandatory adjournment on June 5.

He said they would work overtime to finish approving these measures, which also include controversial bills, such as the proposal to extend a “genuine” agrarian reform program, the Reproductive Health Bill and the Right of Reply Bill.

Resolution 737 proposes to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution to allow 100-percent foreign ownership of land and certain businesses.

Endorsed by the committee on constitutional amendments, the Nograles measure is up for debate in plenary.

 Efforts by the House leadership to start such debates in the past two weeks failed when opponents of Cha-cha questioned the quorum.

 Nograles and Majority Leader Arthur Defensor have said Resolution 737 will go through the legislative process route, which has come to be known as the fourth mode of amending the Constitution.

It will be sent to the Senate for consideration after the House approves it, they said.

Several senators have expressed support for the Cha-cha mode and for the Nograles-proposed amendments, which the Speaker said could bring in more foreign investments.

Though the Constitution does not mention the fourth Cha-cha mode, it is a constitutionally viable way of proposing Charter amendments, according to Fr. Joaquin Bernas, a widely respected constitutionalist.

The proposal of Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte for “members of Congress” to convene as a constituent assembly (con-ass) to rewrite the Charter, contained in Resolution 1109, is still alive.

Villafuerte heads President Arroyo’s Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi).

Last May 18, the Kampi boss withdrew his authorship of the resolution. However, the constitutional amendments committee refused to archive it and will consider it in its regular weekly meeting tomorrow.

But time is fast running out on con-ass. Even if the committee will endorse it, the House has no more time to tackle it in its remaining sessions before next weekend’s adjournment.

Last week, Nograles said if con-ass fails, the House would be open to supporting proposals to convene a constitutional convention to amend the Constitution.

In a related development, Villafuerte and some of his Kampi loyalists are reportedly having second thoughts on joining the merger of their party with Lakas and are thinking of joining the Nationalist People’s Coalition.

The two administration parties are set to formally merge on Thursday. The name of the new group will be known as Lakas-Kampi-CMD.

In the past, Villafuerte has repeatedly expressed misgivings over the proposed to unite the two parties behind common national and local candidates in May 2010.

The rivalry between Kampi and Lakas had been largely blamed for the embarrassing loss of President Arroyo’s senatorial candidates in the 2007 elections. Only three of them won.

Such rivalry was nowhere more evident than in Villafuerte’s own province, where his son, Luis Raymond, sought a new term as governor under Lakas.

The Kampi boss fielded his candidate, former Rep. Edgar Pilapil, against his own son.