Tuesday, July 06, 2004 Arroyo leaving Charter change details to Congress
MANILA -- President Arroyo said Monday she would leave the details of amending the Constitution to support a shift from the present system to a parliamentary style of government to lawmakers.
"The timing for each debate and measure will be up to the legislature. The Senate and House leaderships are working on it and I have utmost confidence in them," Arroyo said.
She said she would work closely with Congress to ensure the fulfillment of the agenda for Charter change and her 10-point legacy.
Before a shift in the form of government, Congress has first to amend provisions in the Constitution, with the process expected to go through debates, officials said.
"I will work with Congress to fulfill the agenda for charter change," Arroyo said in a written statement. She said she would let the legislature "find the best time management formula" to effect the change.
The Philippines has a US-style of government with a president and two chambers of Congress: the Senate and the House of Representatives. This requires bills pushed by the administration to go through a lengthy legislative process in both houses.
Last week, House Speaker Jose de Venecia, a key ally of Arroyo, said the shift to a parliamentary from a federal system could begin as early as August.
He denied that changing the form of government would divert attention from Arroyo's other reform measures including creating millions of jobs and providing electrical and water services to thousands of remote villages.
Arroyo last week began a fresh six-year term after winning the May 10 presidential elections. She is faced with a chronic deficit and a problem of solving poverty in this country of 84 million.
A change in government would allow her to speed up her legislative agenda.
"We are on a single track and the national interest will be served by a solid executive-legislative partnership," she said.
Arroyo's spokesman Ignacio Bunye, however, said he does not know if the lifting of term limits for elected officials was among the issues to be tackled in moves to amend the Charter.
Bunye said the issue of term limits has never been discussed but he could not categorically state Arroyo's stand on the subject.
To say that Arroyo's administration is open to the inclusion of a term extension for the President is "looking too far ahead," he pointed out.
Bunye said discussions on Charter amendments are still "open-ended" because Congress has to debate on them and that "all other issues at this time are peripheral."
He also said negative comments by the opposition led by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel on the Charter change campaign was premature at this time.
Concerning Senate President Franklin Drilon's remark that it was best to focus efforts on the gaping budget deficit, Bunye said this was not "inconsistent" with the decision of Arroyo to leave the matter to the leadership of both Houses.
Asked how government would make Charter change more acceptable to the public, which has rejected such moves since the Ramos administration, he said: "What the President can say at this time is that she's open. She's open to the matter of discussing Charter change but the details, we leave that to the leadership of both houses."
Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales opposed a proposal to shift from a US-style presidential government to a parliamentary style.
Rosales said before the government concentrates on revising the Constitution, it should first consider the increasing problems confronting the country such as unemployment and rampant crimes.
"Yung Ten Commandments nga ng Diyos eh hindi natin masunod, magpapalit na
naman tayo ng kung anu-ano," Rosales said during the formal opening of the Congress of the Clergy held at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. (We can't even follow the Ten Commandments and here we are changing other things.)
He said there is nothing to change since the existing system is still adoptable to the current situation.
Furthermore, Rosales said what is important is the sincerity and the will to solve the country's problems and the vision of the government for immediate development and progress of the country.
Marbel (South Cotabato) Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez, on the other hand, believed there is a need to amend the Constitution.
Gutierrez chairs the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on National Social Action on Justice and Peace (Nassa).
The bishop wants the implementation of Constitutional amendments to take effect during the term of President Arroyo but doubts if this is doable.
Drilon said he is not rejecting the idea of amending the country's Constitution, after urging government to set aside such talks and give more attention to the more critical problem on budget deficit.
He said government should consider proper timing in proceeding with Constitutional amendments. Also, there is a need to discuss as to how it should be done, whether through a Constitutional Convention or Constituent Assembly.
"I'm not saying we must not address Charter change, we will address it but after 12 months," Drilon said.
According to Drilon, Congress should devote its full attention to discussing how to solve the fiscal problem and generate more revenues.
"What we need is political stability. There are other controversial issues than Cha-cha," Drilon stressed, predicting the long hours that would be wasted over debates on the issue. (Sunnex Luzon/With AFP)
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