MANILA, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo can run for prime minister in a parliamentary system being pushed by her allies in the House of Representatives who are seeking to amend the Constitution and are threatening to bypass the Senate in the process.

This was confirmed during Tuesday’s hearing of the House committee on constitutional amendments by La Union Rep. Victor Ortega when questioned on whether the pending Charter change (Cha-cha) bills do not preclude the incumbent from seeking the highest post in the new form of government.

The Cha-cha debate is expected to come to a head as soon as congressmen start choosing between a constituent assembly (Con-ass) and a so-called “fourth mode” of Charter change starting next week.

Ortega said that the House would put off plenary deliberations on Speaker Prospero Nograles’ House Resolution No. 737, which seeks to lift constitutional restrictions on foreign businessmen through the normal legislative route—the fourth mode.

Ortega said his committee would have to decide first next Tuesday on Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte’s House Resolution No. 1109, which is pushing a Con-ass with the House and the Senate voting jointly.

With the House dominating in numbers, the Senate would then become irrelevant, according to lawmakers. The Senate is opposing Con-ass.

Ortega, who chairs the committee, said nobody would be prohibited from running for prime minister should Congress pass the necessary constitutional amendment and the shift to the parliamentary system was approved in a plebiscite.

“All prohibitions contained in the (current) Constitution is set aside,” he said.

“Should we become parliamentary, President Gloria can run in her district, President Erap can run in San Juan, President Cory in Tarlac and President Ramos in Pangasinan. If they will become prime minister, only God can answer that,” Ortega said.

He stressed that he was only talking about the possibility and not the probability of Ms Arroyo running for Congress.

“It only confirmed our fears that these (Cha-cha) resolutions are dangerous and are meant to protect Arroyo’s stay in office,” said Akbayan party-list Rep. Riza Hontiveros-Baraquel.

Immunity from lawsuits

Former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. claimed that the President would run for a congressional seat in her Lubao hometown in Pampanga province in 2010 to have immunity from lawsuits.

Nueva Ecija Rep. Rodolfo Antonino noted that it was entirely possible that she will become Speaker.

But Quezon Rep. Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III pointed out that only the prime minister (just like the president in the current system) would have legal immunity.

Tañada said this was the reason President Arroyo, who has faced a string of corruption scandals, has to be impeached first before being charged in court, while senators or congressmen could be charged in court any time.

Public hearings required

Antonino earlier said that approval of HR 1109 in the committee should come first since it had already been endorsed by a clear majority of the House members with 174 signatures.

Antonino said it would be a waste of time for the committee to discuss it further when the proposal clearly had sufficient support.

But Representatives Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna party-list and Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City argued that HR 1109 should go through public hearings just like all bills before being tossed to the floor for plenary voting.

Ocampo noted that the anti-torture bill he authored had been endorsed by a majority of House members just like HR 1109, but it also went through the mandatory hearings.

Decision to come ‘very soon’

Ortega concurred with Ocampo’s and Rodriguez’s views that Antonino’s proposal to rush HR 1109 would set a bad precedent for all pending bills and would negate the purpose of committee hearings that were required to get the pulse of the people.

As a compromise, Ortega said he would ask House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor to put on hold debates on HR 737, which has been on the House agenda over the last three weeks, until the committee has been able to hear resource persons in its Tuesday hearing.

Ortega said it was necessary that the plenary should decide on HR 737 and HR 1109 simultaneously to decide what mode of Cha-cha they wanted.

He said that the lawmakers would have to decide on Nograles’ fourth mode or Villafuerte’s Con-ass, meant to force detractors to go to the Supreme Court to rule on whether voting should be jointly or separately.

There are only three ways of amending the Constitution—the people’s initiative, constitutional convention (Con-con) and Con-ass.

“One way or the other, we will make a decision on the mode very soon,” Ortega said.

Con-con proponents minority

In a press conference, Nograles said that voting on HR 737 and HR 1109 would finally settle the mode in changing the Constitution. He said that the mode should be addressed first before his proposed amendments could be tackled.

Based on preliminary discussions, Nograles said that HR 1109 would make a general provision (through the phrase “as provided by law”) allowing Congress to amend specific investment areas covered by the 40-percent limit on foreign equity.

But the minority is still not giving up on Con-con. Tañada said it was high time the House consider the more “viable” option of Con-con as the preferred Cha-cha mode.

Ortega, a delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention, and Baguio City Rep. Mauricio Domogan concurred with Tañada about the possibility of adopting a Con-con with the delegates to be voted as soon as 2010.