House opposition admits lacking the numbers to stop Cha-cha

The opposition in the House of Representatives lacks the numbers to stop the Charter change (Cha-cha) push of President Arroyo’s allies.

Minority Leader Francis Escudero told reporters yesterday that they had fewer than 30 signatures on a resolution opposing the majority bloc’s Cha-cha initiative if it meant bypassing the Senate.

"We’re still short of the target of 50 signatures. We’re just about halfway," he said.

Meanwhile, the Senate approved last night Resolution 473, expressing the sense of the Senate that any proposed amendment to, or revision of, the Constitution requires the approval of the Senate and the House, voting separately.

Twenty-two out of 23 senators signed the resolution, with only Sen. Ramon Magsaysay unable to sign because he is on official mission abroad.

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile raised the question of which rules should govern Congress once it convenes itself into a constituent assembly as part of moves preparatory to amending the Constitution.

"If the Senate will pass a resolution agreeing to a constituent assembly, we will join and meet the House but the first order would be to prepare the rules of the House so we can function. We have to right the rules," Enrile said.

Escudero conceded that an overwhelming number of his colleagues were for Cha-cha even if the majority’s plan is for the House to go it alone and bypass the Senate in proposing amendments to the Constitution.

"We cannot accept that. Ours is a bicameral system. One chamber cannot ignore the other even on insignificant bills. Much more so on proposals to amend the Constitution," he said.

Escudero’s group is aiming to gather 50 signatures to frustrate the railroading of Cha-cha by the majority bloc, which had launched its own campaign to collect the signatures of 195 of the 236 House members.

Actually, 42 signatures can block the plan to bypass the Senate, but just to be sure, the minority is aiming for 50.

The majority, according to Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., had already gathered 165 signatures as of last weekend and needed only an additional 30.

President Arroyo’s allies are proceeding on the assumption that they can bypass the Senate by having at least 195 signatures, even if these all belong to House members, on a resolution asking Congress to propose constitutional amendments.

That number represents three-fourths of the combined membership of 260 of the House (236) and the Senate (24).

De Venecia and his colleagues argue that all the Constitution requires is that amendments be approved by a vote of "three-fourths of all the members of Congress."

The Charter does not prescribe that the Senate and the House should vote separately on Cha-cha, they claim.

Escudero said even if his group cannot gather the needed number of signatures to frustrate the Cha-cha railroading plan, it would still be difficult for the majority to fast-track its Charter amendment initiative.

"It will be difficult even if they have 195 signatures. Remember, when voting time comes, they need warm bodies, not signatures," he said.

He added that as far as he could remember, there has been no House session attended by that huge number of members.

The opposition leader warned the nation that if they succeed in railroading Cha-cha, Mrs. Arroyo’s allies would then proceed to submit the amendments to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and ask the poll body to conduct a plebiscite for the ratification by the people of the proposed changes.

He said there might also be petitions brought before the Supreme Court questioning Cha-cha.

But if the court does not stop the Comelec from conducting a plebiscite, the approval of the proposed amendments could render the petitions useless and the Cha-cha railroading plan could be consummated, he stressed. — With Christina Mendez, Paolo Romero