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Wednesday, October 17, 2007
De Venecia rejects action to revive Charter change
MANILA –- Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. rejected Tuesday an immediate action by the House of Representatives to respond to the call of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to revive efforts to change the system of government.
“Not for this week or this month. I propose a national moratorium for 2007 and everybody welcomes that. I do not want to break my own commitment,” said de Venecia who however claimed that he is open to Charter change in the first quarter of 2008.
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President Arroyo has called for the creation of a multi-agency panel that would draft a "roadmap to federalism" by 2012.
It will be recalled that the Supreme Court on November 1, 2006 junked the people’s initiative petition by a vote of 8-7, with then Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban casting the swing vote.
De Venecia has vowed to conduct series of extensive consultations with various sectors to push for Cha-cha (Charter change).
“The President as President of the nation can initiate new ideas, new initiatives. I will say we must engage in extensive consultations with the political leadership, with the political parties, with the leader of civil societies, leaders of academe and leaders of media,” said de Venecia.
He added: “Let’s sit down and then once we have achieved a consensus let’s move forward. Maybe on the first quarter of next year that would be the first start, but I am only guessing.”
Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros meanwhile believes that the sudden revival of Charter change was meant to divert the real issue of corruption and at the same time push for the very divisive proposal without de Venecia.
"The revived Cha-cha call is no doubt diversionary, but what's surprising is that this new attempt is apparently de Venecia-less," Hontiveros said.
She said: "When the administration pushed for Cha-cha during the 13th Congress, it was meant to tame or abolish an impertinent Senate. Speaker de Venecia supported Cha-cha because he believes that a shift to a parliamentary form of government would benefit his own desire to become a Prime Minister."
"The new attempt is conspicuously de Venecia-less, however. The stress now is on federalism, a message that, perhaps in addition to the alleged passing of envelopes and bags containing 'Christmas gifts,' clearly pleases the local allies of the President," Hontiveros added.
However, she said a de Venecia-less Cha-cha is unlikely to survive. "The administration would need his support if they truly want to succeed,” she said.
She added that the new Cha-cha call is nothing but a spin-off of the proxy war between the President and the House Speaker.
"It is not a call for genuine federalism, which should lead to empowerment from below. Arroyo's Cha-cha is meant to consolidate the support of the President's local allies to respond to a threat that emanates from de Venecia," Hontiveros said.
"She (President Arroyo) is using federalism as a political insurance against de Venecia and to get the support of local politicians," added Hontiveros.
She explained that Arroyo’s version of federalism would devolve elitism and warlordism, but not the empowerment of local communities.
"Power would be in the hands of the local elites and it would not strengthen democracy at the grassroots level. It's not meant to extend the powers of a President embattled by one crisis after another,” she said.
Hontiveros vowed to oppose the new Charter change bid. "This effort is clearly tainted by the President's survival needs. While Akbayan supports genuine empowerment at the grassroots level, we don't see the new Cha-cha bid as democratic,” she said.
Federalism is a system in which independent states band together, agreeing on a federal government, which will administer foreign policy, the military, the currency, and inter-state commerce. The relationship, including rights, between individual states and the federal government are clearly defined.
In the Philippine setting, theoretically, there would be as many states as there are now provinces, or the merging of provinces to form a single state. (Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (October 17, 2007 issue)
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