‘No marching orders from Palace on Charter change’--Speaker
By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 17:54:00 02/13/2008
Filed Under: Charter change, Government, Congress
MANILA, Philippines -- Malacañang has not issued any marching orders for Congress to get involved in renewed efforts to amend the Constitution, House Speaker Prospero Nograles said Wednesday.
“Nobody is giving any marching order here for Cha-cha [Charter change] and there is no marching order from the Palace. There is no marching order from the House,” Nograles told reporters Wednesday.
And while there are deliberations on proposals to amend the Charter, the Speaker said the issue is not in the chamber’s priority legislative agenda.
“If it’s not found in the LEDAC (legislative-executive development advisory council) priority agenda , then it’s not a priority measure,” he said.
But it would still be up to the members of the House to decide whether to include the matter in a legislative list that Camarines Sur Representative Luis Villafuerte is proposing.
Personally, Nograles said he sees no reason why the House should rush approval of a measure to amend the Constitution.
He said the chamber is focused on improving its performance and he has asked his five deputy speakers to supervise the committees in the House.
“One of the changes that we’re going to have immediately is that the five deputy speakers will now be supervising at least 10 committees of the House” and be responsible for these committee’s crafting of bills, he said.
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