For over a decade now, there have been several efforts to introduce changes in the Constitution. Each time the stumbling block has been the widespread suspicion that the ultimate motive of any Charter change initiative is to perpetuate certain officials in power. The way proponents tried to push Cha-cha in the previous administration merely reinforced this perception.
This time the two chambers of the 15th Congress are opting for a different route: a bicameral constituent assembly. This means the two chambers will separately propose Charter amendments, and then reconcile the proposals in a bicameral effort. Congressional leaders said this latest incarnation of Cha-cha would be limited largely to economic provisions, many of which have hindered the entry of foreign investments.
Foreign businessmen have raised those issues for many years, and they will surely welcome changes. Malacañang, on the other hand, is unimpressed, reiterating that Charter change is not a priority of President Aquino. In the same breath, the President repeated yesterday that he did not intend to stay one moment longer in office than what the Constitution allowed. At noon of June 30, 2016, the President reassured the public, he would hand over power to his successor.
Proponents of the latest Cha-cha effort have said that with a President who can be trusted not to use the initiative for his personal gain, this is the best time to amend the Constitution. The bicameral constituent assembly, which treats Charter amendment like legislation, is also the cheapest mode of introducing changes to the basic law of the land.
Any constitutional amendment will need the final nod of the people. Malacañang has no direct role to play in a bicameral constituent assembly, although the executive, by wielding its power over the allocation of public funds, has ways of bending Congress to its will. For proponents of this latest Cha-cha, it helps to have the Chief Executive on their side.
The only son of the president under whose watch the so-called Freedom Constitution was written and ratified will need persuasion to give that support. Public suspicion of politicians’ motives for Cha-cha also lingers. Any indication that economic amendments will simply be used as a smokescreen for political changes will doom this latest Cha-cha initiative.