Speaker Arroyo: Not enough time for charter change

MANILA, Philippines — Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said yesterday there is not enough time to achieve President Duterte’s desire for charter change (Cha-cha) that would shift the nation to a new system of government.

Arroyo pointed out that the present Congress, whose life expires in June next year, has no time to finish Cha-cha.

“I hope to move it forward as far as I can during my time as Speaker…I hope those who follow after will pick up from where we left off in this Congress,” Arroyo told ABS-CBN News.

“It might not probably be completed in my remaining time in office, especially there will still be a plebiscite,” Arroyo said.

In the same interview, Arroyo said she has no plan to seek any public office when her third and last term as representative of Pampanga’s second district ends in June next year.

She said she would resume writing her memoirs. 

Arroyo stressed she is not interested in having a legacy as Speaker for the remaining 10-month life of the current Congress.

All she wants to do is to help the President, she added. 

Arroyo has described as “black propaganda” the claim of some senators and critics that she is eyeing the position of prime minister under a federal system.

“I think those who are raising those issues are those that want to stir controversy,” Arroyo said. “As far as elections are concerned, I’ve already said I’m not in favor of term extension, so I’m not in favor of no-el (no elections).”

In the first place, Arroyo said there is no such position in the setup recommended by Duterte’s consultative committee on Cha-cha, which she added was federal-presidential.

Duterte wants his congressional allies to complete Cha-cha for federalism in time for the May 2019 congressional elections so that the plebiscite for the ratification of the envisioned new federal charter could be held with the balloting to save on cost.

In January, the House passed a resolution urging the two chambers of Congress to convene as a constituent assembly (con-ass) to work on Cha-cha.

Senators fear that if they agree on the con-ass proposal of congressmen, they might insist on voting jointly instead of separately on any proposed constitutional amendment.

Arroyo filed Resolution No. 2056 last Aug. 7, calling for separate voting by the House and the Senate on Cha-cha.

Her co-authors are Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr., and Reps. Vicente Veloso of Leyte, constitutional amendments committee chairman; Arthur Yap of Bohol and Alfredo Garbin Jr. of party-list group Ako Bicol, who is a deputy of Minority Leader Danilo Suarez.

In their resolution, Arroyo and her four colleagues said, “There is an urgent need for the House of Representatives and the Senate to convene as a constituent assembly to consider proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution.”

They said the House is taking the same position as the Senate that the two chambers should vote separately on Cha-cha.

In arguing for separate voting, senators said joint voting would render them irrelevant as House members could easily outvote them on any proposed constitutional amendment.

At the same time, Arroyo has stopped Veloso’s committee from drafting its own version of a new Constitution.

“It’s waste of time. That should be done by the assembly,” Arroyo told committee members during a meeting of the panel, which she attended.

“So now we will work with Senate President (Vicente) Sotto and fellow senators on how to move forward,” she said.

Arroyo took advantage of the presence of former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel Jr. to appeal to him to help convince senators to convene with the House as a con-ass.

Arroyo noted the issue of whether members of both chambers should vote separately or jointly in the event the con-ass is convened has been a concern that “they (senators) were raising before my Speakership.”

The two chambers have been at loggerheads over the issue of Charter change, particularly on the issue of voting. Arroyo’s predecessor in the chamber, Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, had been insisting on joint voting that senators said would only mean they would be outvoted.

The current Senate has 22 voting lawmakers while the House is composed of nearly 300 members.

The Senate committee on constitutional amendments is currently conducting hearings on Cha-cha proposals but the proposed shift to a federal system appears to be all but dead.

Core agenda

Pimentel later told reporters that he would heed Arroyo’s plea and talk to his former Senate colleagues, including his son Aquilino III, a former Senate president like him, who is also for federalism. The elder Pimentel is the original advocate of federalism.

Negros Occidental Rep. Albee Benitez, another federalism proponent, said he has talked to at least six senators on con-ass. 

“They don’t want to sit with us. They suspect that we will insist on joint voting. We will move forward to push for the shift to the federal system, which we believe would lead to the development of the regions, and let them answer to the people,” he said.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said with Arroyo’s assurance on separate voting, “there is no reason for senators to hold on to their suspicions.”

Another Arroyo ally, Rep. Michael Romero of party-list group 1-Pacman, said, “We should respect each other and accept each other’s word, especially the word of the Speaker. Suspicion will get us nowhere.” 

He said Duterte’s federalism advocacy “will not move unless senators overcome their fear of the unknown.”

On Wednesday, Duterte urged his partymates at the PDP-Laban to advance the federal system of government as the party’s core agenda.

Duterte said that under the federal system, there will be “preferential policy for the poor and the marginalized, religious tolerance and equal opportunity for all.”

“Together, let us become instruments of real change in society by advancing the PDP-Laban’s core agenda of federalism,” Duterte said during the first anniversary of PDP-Laban Cares in Pasay City.

Duterte also called on his partymates led by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III and former speaker Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez to unite the party’s factions to attain the reforms being pushed by his administration.

Pimentel, for his part, released a statement urging presidential daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio to consider running for a Senate seat in next year’s elections in order to provide the people in Mindanao a stronger voice in key national issues.

Pimentel said Carpio could help the administration in its push for a shift in the form of government from unitary to federal, which he said is faced with an uphill climb right now.

Under a federal system, Pimentel noted the Senate would be composed of senators from the different regions and would not be elected on a national level.

So far, there are three senators from Mindanao, namely Pimentel, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and Manny Pacquiao.

Pimentel said Carpio would give Mindanao a bigger voice and influence on certain key national issues.

“Her experience as mayor of one of the country’s highly successful cities eminently qualifies her to speak for Mindanao, for peace and order, for the environment and for the socio-economic upliftment of the marginalized sectors,” Pimentel said.   – With Paolo Romero, Edith Regalado, Marvin Sy, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Louella Desiderio