Cha-cha a numbers game, says Joker

MANILA, Philippines - Former senator Joker Arroyo has warned the public against being complacent about pronouncements of lawmakers that no Charter change (Cha-cha) would usher a term extension for President Aquino.

“As matters stand presently, the drive to amend the Constitution by lifting the ban on the one-term limit for the President or for relaxing the limits on foreign ownership through ‘the Congress, upon a vote of 3/4 of all its members’ or any scheme similar to that is bound to fail,” he said.

Arroyo said amending the Constitution through Congress would be a numbers game.

It would seem difficult for members of the House of Representatives to get approval for Cha-cha through a three-fourths vote, but that anything is possible under the present administration, he added.

Arroyo said three-fourths or about 75 percent is easily attainable or even four-fifths (80 percent) or even 5/6 (83 percent) is attainable in the present makeup of the House as recentevents have shown.

“The numbers game will be a repeat of the Corona impeachment trial,” he said.

“That trial started with the eight Articles of Impeachment from the House and was cut down to three Articles in the end.”

Arroyo said the impeachment trial against then chief justice Renato Corona became “a long drawn out, continuous trial” that lasted about four and a half months.

“It was a long drawn out continuous trial… not because the presentation of evidence on both sides was necessary but because the Senate leadership had to drag it out until they were sure they had mustered the 16 votes, necessary to satisfy the 2/3 vote,” said Arroyo, who had voted for Corona’s acquittal. – With Paolo Romero