House draft Charter OK’d today

The House committee on constitutional amendments is set to approve today its version of the revised Constitution.

The approval by the committee of its recommended Charter changes (Cha-cha) moves the House closer to bypassing the Senate on the matter of proposing constitutional amendments.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Constantino Jaraula, committee chairman, told reporters yesterday that since his panel has been continually discussing its version of the rewritten Constitution that is contained in Resolution 1230, "we will approve it if there are no last-minute amendments."

"If we can approve it tomorrow, we can prepare the committee report this weekend and submit it to the committee on rules next week. After that, the rules committee can already schedule Cha-cha for plenary debates," he said.

According to Majority Leader Prospero Nograles, the House intends to finish Cha-cha in about two months’ time, or by October, so that a plebiscite on the proposed amendments to the Constitution could be set for November or December.

"We will have an interim parliament by January 2007," he said.

Nograles said the House would soon convert itself into a constituent assembly to propose amendments even without the participation of senators.

However, he said House leaders expect the participation in con-ass of two to three senators.

Jaraula said it is in the plenary voting on the proposed Charter changes that at least 195 "warm bodies" are needed to vote for the planned amendments.

"We are no longer working on additional signatures. What we need are warm bodies when voting comes. We may have more than 195 signatures, but those are worthless unless the signatories show up to vote for Cha-cha," he said.

He also clarified that the magic number is 195, or three-fourths of the combined full membership of the Senate (24) and the House (236).

"The Constitution provides that proposed amendments to the Constitution should be approved by a three-fourths vote of all the members of Congress. That means that the full membership should be counted. We cannot deduct the seats that are vacant. I have made this clear to the Speaker," he said.

Last week, Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said he was only two signatures short of the 194 needed to bypass the Senate on Cha-cha.

Jaraula said once the House has approved its version of the revised Constitution, it would send it to the Commission on Elections with the request that the poll body should schedule a plebiscite for its ratification.

He said like in the case of the people’s initiative, they expect those opposed to Cha-cha to challenge before the Supreme Court the plan of the House to approve its version of the new Constitution.

In a related development, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. told the House appropriations committee yesterday that Malacañang is proposing the appropriation of P5.5 billion for the Comelec just in case the May 2007 congressional and local elections push through.

He said an additional P2.3 billion would be set aside for the synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections also slated next year.

However, the elections might be postponed in case the House is able to achieve its objective of shifting the nation to the parliamentary system by January next year.

Under the congressmen’s version of the revised Constitution, the date of the next election would be set by interim parliament that would come into existence upon the ratification by the people of the proposed amendments.

The interim parliament would be composed of the present members of the Senate and the House, plus Vice President Noli de Castro, who would be reduced to an ordinary MP (member of parliament). There is no vice president in a parliamentary system. The original Jaraula committee version of the new Constitution fixed the date for the next elections for the second Monday of May 2007.

The general expectation of congressmen and local officials is that there would be no elections next year, and that their terms of office would be extended to June 30, 2010, the date of expiration of President Arroyo’s six-year term.