MANILA, Philippines—Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales has expressed what may yet be his sharpest rebuke of administration lawmakers pushing a constituent assembly (Con-ass) to amend the 1987 Constitution.
“It’s like entrusting your teenage daughter in the care of a rapist,” Rosales told reporters. “I’m sorry for the analogy, but you get the idea.”
The cardinal said it would not be prudent to allow certain members of the House of Representatives to perform the task of Charter change because of their vested interests including “political dynasties.”
He added: “[There] is a danger of extending [the term of] the present administration and those who are occupying positions [in it] down to the last office.”
But Rosales, who now holds the prelature from which the late Jaime Cardinal Sin called on the people to overthrow two presidents, indicated the Catholic hierarchy’s support for “improving the Constitution.”
“There’s no perfect law except the 10 Commandments, and you know, even these were improved by Jesus. He contracted … the 10 Commandments into two: Love of God and love of our fellowmen,” Rosales said.
In its latest statement against amending the Charter through a Con-ass, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines called on the government to put off the exercise until after 2010.
“We fervently pray especially for our government officials to forgo their plans of amending the Constitution until a new set of leaders will have been elected in the 2010 presidential election,” the bishops said.
‘Let us debate’
In response to the CBCP statement titled “Let us not allow selfish interest to undermine democracy,” Speaker Prospero Nograles said Church leaders should give lawmakers the leeway to debate on the merits of Charter change.
“My suggestion is for them not to gag freedom of speech and public debate on political matters. It’s up to them what priorities they have but they must allow other institutions to also debate public issues. Congress has never asked them to stop talking, [have] we?” Nograles said Thursday in a text message.
He said the Philippines was a free country, and Congress should publicly discuss such issues as Charter change and reproductive health.
“What Congress can’t discuss are religious matters and morality, which are within the jurisdiction of Church leaders like our bishops,” he said.
Last week, the House adjourned the last meeting of its committee on constitutional amendments in response to Nograles’ call for a ceasefire on the issue of Charter change.
Among the matters being debated was the mode of amending the Constitution, with stalwarts of the two political parties allied with President Macapagal-Arroyo—Lakas-NUCD and Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi)—at odds on the supposed best way.
Kampi officials want a Con-ass where the House and the Senate would vote jointly to propose amendments.
Some Lakas officials prefer a constitutional convention. They also say a Con-ass will not be possible without the participation of the Senate, which unanimously declared it “unconstitutional.”
Change by resolution
But Congress can still make Charter change happen by passing a resolution that will propose specific amendments, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said at the Kapihan sa Senado forum.
Asked if it were possible to pass a law to lift constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership given the strong opposition to a Con-ass, Enrile said: “You can’t pass a law to cure [restrictions on foreign ownership], but what we can do—and I suggested it to the House—we will pass a resolution proposing an amendment of these economic provisions.”
He said that instead of lawmakers meeting together as one chamber under a Con-ass, the House could pass a resolution amending the Charter’s economic provisions and removing the limitation on foreign ownership.
“We will conduct public hearings and then we will make our own version ... and present it to people in a plebiscite,” he added.
2 ways
Enrile said Congress could amend the Constitution in two ways—through “the traditional Con-ass where the Senate and the House meet jointly and vote separately,” or through “what is happening now in the case of ordinary bill and resolutions.”
He said he made the suggestion to a group of congressmen at the Christmas party of the Nationalist People’s Coalition early this week, after telling them they could not make Charter change happen without the Senate.
Asked whether the congressmen were amenable to his suggestion, Enrile said: “They did not indicate resistance or approval.”
He added that if the House proceeded according to his suggestion, it would “remove suspicions” that the effort at Charter change was meant to extend the terms of elective officials. Reports from Norman Bordadora, Leila B. Salaverria and Christine O. Avendańo
