In less than a decade of its ratification, the 1987 Constitution encountered in 1997 the first serious proposal to amend it.

That ill-fated proposal sought to lift the constitutional term limits of elected officials through the method of ?people?s initiative? called Pirma (People?s Initiative for Reform, Modernization and Action). It sought to allow then President Fidel Ramos to seek reelection in 1998.

The Supreme Court, by a 6-6 vote with three abstentions, effectively denied the Pirma petition pushed by the political machine of Ramos. It was hailed as a ?triumph for democracy? and the court reaped praises for its independence.

The decision slammed the door shut on what I then described as a ?constitutional coup??the reelection of Ramos through methods ?camouflaged with legal nomenclature.? That issue divided the country deeply.

Then Vice President Joseph Estrada, who was a contender in the 1998 presidential election, fulsomely praised the court, saying the decision restored the people?s trust and confidence in the judiciary.

Two other presidential aspirants?Senators Edgardo Angara and Miriam Defensor-Santiago?and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was to run for vice president, welcomed the decision.

The decision was ?a triumph of the people and democracy,? Arroyo trumpeted, while Angara said: ?Today?s decision shows that despite administration attempts at circumventing the rule of law, the Supreme Court proved itself to be the last bulwark of the rule of law.?

Santiago, a petitioner in the Supreme Court opposing Pirma, declared that ?I fell on my knees and thanked God? on hearing the news of the junking of the Pirma petition.

I am bringing up this case because of its relevance to the current signature campaign spearheaded by the President?s eldest son, Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel ?Mikey? Arroyo, in the House of Representatives to back a resolution calling on the Senate and the House to amend the Constitution through a constituent assembly (Con-ass), voting jointly and not separately.

Arroyo dynasty

The congressman?s mother stands to benefit from this resolution that could open the way for amendments lifting President Macapagal-Arroyo?s term limit and allowing her to seek reelection beyond her term, which runs out in 2010.

The current campaign puts Ms Arroyo and her political dynasty on the spot, despite Mikey?s avowal that his resolution is intended to introduce amendments seeking economic reforms to allow foreign investors freer access to Philippine natural resources.

He denies it is intended to extend his mother?s tenure beyond 2010. Palace officials deny Ms Arroyo is behind the campaign.

Two defeats

The Con-ass remains one of two approaches to Charter change, the other being a constitutional convention. The Supreme Court had emphatically twice rejected the people?s initiative approach.

In October 2006, during the second Arroyo presidency, the Supreme Court voted 8-7 to dismiss the Malacañang-backed ?people?s initiative? to amend the Constitution and clear the way for the shift to the parliamentary system.

That shift would have opened the way for Ms Arroyo to return to power by running as a member of parliament and get elected as prime minister, after she steps down from the presidency in 2010.

The court called the 2006 people?s initiative a ?grand deception? and ?gigantic fraud.?

Despite these decisive rejections of the people?s initiative as a mode of constitutional change, there has been a relentless siege to change the Charter.

Since 2005, a number of resolutions have been initiated in the administration-controlled House of Representatives seeking the convening of a constituent assembly to jump-start the process of constitutional change.

The current campaign spearheaded by Mikey seeks to convene a Con-ass and contains a highly contentious issue?that the assembly vote as a whole, not as separate chambers.

Under such a scheme, the House enjoys the advantage of numbers (238) that overwhelm the Senate?s 24, at its full membership. This approach is provoking an explosive confrontation with the Senate. The senators, with a new leadership under Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, are closing ranks in opposing the Mikey Arroyo-sponsored scheme.

This issue presents the first test of the opportunistic relationship between Ms Arroyo and Enrile after the revamp of the Senate leadership last week.

Enrile warning

Enrile has warned: ?The House is not Congress. Congress is composed of two houses. If the House will pass a resolution calling for a constituent assembly, it has to wait for a resolution from the Senate, if at all. Otherwise, it?s a futile effort on their part.?

That is a warning that puts Enrile on the spot?on whether he is bluffing or not.

Mikey and his allies might call the bluff and if they do, the charge of the Arroyo Light Brigade into the jaws of mayhem is running head on toward a confrontation between the two chambers.

Mikey said there was a need to ?revisit the provisions of the Constitution.? He said that ?investors are asking Congress to amend some provisions on the national patrimony.?

Malacañang doublespeak

The president?s political adviser, Claudio Gabriel, echoed the economic rationale behind the House campaign for the constituent assembly approach.

Claudio said the administration?s view of constitutional change was anchored on the belief that there was a ?need for constitutional reforms to significantly boost the country?s chances for growth and development??a doublespeak for the unstated argument that the retention of Ms Arroyo in power is indispensable to the attainment of these goals.

The naked drive is not only an ill-disguised attempt to deploy the House numbers to extend Ms Arroyo?s hold on power. It is also the most crass action so far to change the Constitution to serve a family?s dynastic rule.

In the several crises of the Arroyo administration since 2005, Charter change has been invoked as a panacea to overcome political impasse. It is not a cure-all. It provokes widespread public resistance.

Live bomb

It is easy to forget that using constitutional change as a formula to cope with crisis is a highly explosive element.

When the administration called for constitutional amendments seeking a shift to the federal structure as a means to defuse the Moro separatist rebellion in Mindanao?after the Supreme Court aborted the memorandum of agreement on an expanded Bangsamoro homeland?it ignited a firestorm of indignation.

This was so because the federalism scheme fueled suspicions that Ms Arroyo was using it to justify constitutional change as a cover for an effort to extend her stay in office.

The new Con-ass campaign is a live TNT in Ms Arroyo?s hands.