MALACAÑANG:
All systems go for Charter change
Arroyo wants constituent assembly convened
By Christine Avendaño, Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
Philippine Daily Inquirer, INQUIRER.net
First Posted 01:53:00 08/13/2008
Filed Under: Charter change, Constitution, Congress
MANILA, Philippines—The Palace backed off two years ago from a “grand deception,” as the Supreme Court ruling put it.
Now, it’s all systems go for Charter change.
This was announced Tuesday by Press Secretary Jesus Dureza a day after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself said that she favored federalism to resolve a bloody Moro war for self-rule in Mindanao.
Dureza said Ms Arroyo was supporting a Senate resolution introduced by Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. seeking to turn the two chambers of Congress into a constituent assembly to amend the 1987 Constitution and adopt a federal system of government.
In a press briefing, Dureza said that 12 senators had signed Pimentel’s resolution that envisioned the creation of 11 federal states and that four other senators were supporting the measure.
Aside from Pimentel, other signatories to the resolution were Senate President Manuel Villar, Senators Edgardo Angara, Rodolfo Biazon, Pia Cayetano, Juan Ponce-Enrile, Francis Escudero, Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, Gregorio Honasan, Panfilo Lacson, Francis Pangilinan, and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.
The shift to a federal type of government was discussed during the President’s meeting with the Cabinet security cluster Tuesday, Dureza said.
On Monday, Ms Arroyo told visiting Swiss President Pascal Couchepin that she was advocating “federalism as a way to ensure long-lasting peace in Mindanao.” Although she did not elaborate, Dureza later told reporters this would be done by amending the Constitution.
It was Ms Arroyo’s first public statement on federalism since the Supreme Court junked in October 2006 as a “grand deception” a signature campaign under the “people’s initiative” mode of amending the Constitution to introduce the parliamentary system.
Ms Arroyo’s remarks came after the Supreme Court stopped the Aug. 5 signing in Malaysia of a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) following protests by local executives over the inclusion of areas under their jurisdiction in an expanded Bangsamoro homeland.
Critics said that the MoA amounted to a dismemberment of the Philippine republic and the creation of a separate state. Some opposition senators and congressmen slammed the accord as a justification for amending the Constitution and prolonging Ms Arroyo’s term, which expires in 2010.
Full support of Senate resolution
“It’s systems go for Cha-cha (Charter change) and we are supporting Senate Joint Resolution No. 10,” Dureza said.
He said Malacañang was giving its “full support” to the Senate resolution “so that eventually it will be the way forward, especially on our work to set up a federal setup in southern Philippines to respond to the Bangsamoro aspiration.”
“The President strongly believes there must be a reform in our Constitution and downscaling the authority of central government and dissipating this to the local setup,” Dureza said, explaining that this was what she had campaigned for in the 2004 election.
“This will also debunk earlier comments by some sectors that when the President announces we are going into a federal trajectory—with due respects to the Inquirer—that the ‘cat is out of the bag’,” he said.
Dureza said Ms Arroyo took exception to the first line in the Inquirer’s banner story on its front page Tuesday on her resurrection of the Charter change bid.
“She said why is that so, when all along it has been there in the Senate and when we had been talking about it from the very beginning as if it’s coming out from her for the first time. So she said we are just supporting the pending Senate resolution,” he said.
Dureza said Ms Arroyo was “going to hasten the process by saying that we are going to look at this as a way forward, especially on our agreement that may take place with the MILF.”
‘Naughty insinuations’
Asked what prompted Ms Arroyo to make clear her endorsement of federalism, Dureza said: “It is because of the naughty insinuation that she is going for Charter change because she wants to extend her term of office.”
He said this was “unfair” to the President because “all her efforts in opening up the Constitution, coming up with an ancestral domain agreement, coming up with a final peace agreement with the MILF, is really to respond to a historic aspiration that had not been attended to.”
Dureza was also asked whether support for the Senate resolution meant the Palace was doing away with its earlier pronouncements for a “surgical amendment” to the Constitution to create the Moro homeland.
Bernas formula
He said that Malacañang would like to “look at all avenues to see to it that the establishment of a Bangsamoro entity will come about whether by surgical amendment as proposed by Fr. Joaquin Bernas or a federal state can be opened up for the country.”
When asked whether a timeline has been set to get the process going, Dureza said there was none and that the President was leaving the matter up to Congress.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said he personally did not think that the Bernas formula or surgical amendment of the Constitution will work and that a “careful study should be done.”
“To me a segmental federalistic system may not be in accordance with the Constitution ... it should be the entire country,” Gonzalez said. He also added that this could be done before the end of Ms Arroyo’s term.
11 federal states
The joint resolution aims to change the "highly centralized system of government" in Manila, which has "brought about a spotty development of the nation where preferential treatment has been given to localities whose officials are friendly with or have access to an incumbent administration."
It said the "lopsided arrangement has spawned a host of problems, including massive nationwide poverty to runaway insurgencies and rebellions that feed on the social inequalities in the nation."
"The federalization of the Republic would speed up the development of the entire nation and help dissipate the causes of the insurgency throughout the land, particularly the centuries-old Moro rebellions," the resolution said.
The 11 federal states called "centers of finance and development" to be created would be: Northern Luzon, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Bicol, Minparom (Mindoro, Palawan, Romblon), Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, Western Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Southern Mindanao, and the State of Bangsamoro.
Under the resolution, the President and the Vice President will be elected and will serve a term of six years with one re-election. The President and Vice President will be voted as a team.
The resolution also calls for the election of six senators in each of the 11 component federal states.
Nine other senators will be elected to represent the Filipinos overseas. This will expand the membership of the Senate from the current 24 to 75 members, according to the resolution.
Meanwhile, members of the House of Representatives will be elected by district but limited to a maximum of 350.
The resolution provides that the senators will serve for a term of six years and congressmen, three years. The senators will be limited to two terms and congressmen, four terms.
Pimentel had said his proposed mode of electing senators would considerably lessen the cost of elections and keep victors from resorting to corruption to recover campaign expenses and pay off poll-related debts.
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