Nograles: Parliament shift after 2010 polls

MANILA, Philippines – President Arroyo’s allies in the House of Representatives will try to engineer a shift to a parliamentary system of government through Charter change (Cha-cha), but only after the May 2010 elections, according to Speaker Prospero Nograles.

Nograles told ABS-CBN News Channel that next year’s elections would definitely be held under the current presidential system.

“It will be presidential, not parliamentary,” he said. “If ever, the amendment for the parliamentary system would be submitted to the people in a plebiscite that would be held simultaneously with the elections.”

If the constitutional changes are ratified by the people, the nation would shift to the new system of government after May 2010, he said.

“I don’t know from what planet this shift to parliament before the elections is coming,” Nograles said.

There are speculations that Mrs. Arroyo ultimately wants to become prime minister under a parliamentary system of government – done through Cha-cha – so she can continue enjoying immunity from possible criminal prosecution.

She is also believed to be eyeing a House seat so she can work on Cha-cha and help in efforts to set up a parliamentary form of government where she can rule as prime minister.

Nograles did not say how an amendment changing the form of government could be proposed. Presumably, it would be the House, sitting as constituent assembly (con-ass) without the Senate, which will propose it.

Earlier, he said con-ass could be convened later next month after Mrs. Arroyo’s last State of the Nation Address or in August.

However, according to administration ally Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, Cha-cha via a Senate-less con-ass “will never fly.”

“It’s too late, too partisan, too unpopular, and too unconstitutional. It was born with a fatal congenital affliction – an attempt at solo parenthood by the House which defies the Constitution,” he said.

Lagman said all the talk about Cha-cha and con-ass is really aimed at shielding Mrs. Arroyo from accusations – including from her own allies and officials – that she’s a lame duck president.

He said he doesn’t know if such game plan has the blessings of the President.

For his part, Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo Plaza said it would be “next to impossible, if not impossible” for Nograles and his other Cha-cha proponents to get an amendment approved even by a Senate-less con-ass.

“They will never get the required three-fourths vote,” said Plaza, who belongs to the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

He said members of NPC and other political parties would stay away from a con-ass that does not involve the Senate.

He warned Cha-cha proponents of “political instability” if they pursue Cha-cha through a Senate-less con-ass.       

Two weeks ago, before Congress went on its annual mandatory adjournment, administration allies suddenly approved House Resolution 1109, which advocates Cha-cha via a Senate-less con-ass.

House sources said Mrs. Arroyo gave her allies the marching order to pursue Cha-cha through con-ass even without Senate participation last May 28 when she presided over the Lakas-Kampi merger at the Manila Hotel.

Futile opposition

Despite the widespread opposition to Cha-cha, Sen. Manuel Villar believes pro-administration lawmakers can force amendments to the 1987 Constitution to suit their political plans.

“Kayang gawin yan pag gusto (They can do it if they want to),” Villar told reporters in Baguio.

He stressed he is open to taking a shot at the highest position under a parliamentary system. He said he may even run for congressman in Las Piñas.

But he stressed that he and his opposition colleagues in the Senate – particularly his party-mates in the Nacionalista Party – are bent on blocking all moves to change the Charter before the 2010 elections. The NP, which he heads, only has at least 20 House members “but will vote solidly against Cha-cha.”

He also said the NP is ready for either presidential or parliamentary elections and that “more and more politicians are joining us.”

Caution

Meanwhile, an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) called on groups opposed to con-ass or Cha-cha to exercise caution saying an excessive show of protests might give the government an excuse to declare emergency rule.

“What may be difficult here is that they might declare an emergency rule and that is why we have to be careful with these things,” CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Canon Law chairman Tagbilaran, Bohol Bishop Leonardo Medroso, said in an interview with the Church-run Radio Veritas.

“We should think about these things very carefully, we should not rush these things. It is not true that they would be able to remove her from power earlier. It could happen that she might stay in power longer,” Medroso said. 

Last June 10, militant, religious, and civil society groups staged a huge rally in Makati City to protest the passage HR 1109. - With Artemio Dumlao, Evelyn Macairan