MANILA, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s allies in the House of Representatives believe there is enough time to amend the Constitution and secure a Supreme Court ruling on it before the 2010 elections.

Sorsogon Rep. Jose Solis and Nueva Ecija Rep. Rodolfo Antonino, stalwarts of the administration-backed Lakas-Kampi-CMD, revealed that the House would immediately convene a constituent assembly (Con-ass) even without the Senate after the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 27.

The move, Solis and Antonino said, would be enough to create a “justiciable” cause for the high court to decide whether a Con-ass, as a Charter change (Cha-cha) mode, could be formed by House members representing the three-fourths vote needed to convene such an assembly.

The Senate has argued that voting in a Con-ass, contained in House Resolution No. 1109 approved earlier this month, should be made separately and not jointly.

“This matter has taken utmost public importance and urgency, I don’t think the Supreme Court will take long in coming up with a decision. I think two months will be enough,” Antonino said in an interview.

Solis was more optimistic that the decision would come in one month. “There will be enough time for Cha-cha before the 2010 polls if the Supreme Court upholds HR 1109,” Solis said.

But he said the Con-ass was most likely to tackle “minor amendments,” such as the lifting of investment restrictions on foreigners as proposed by Speaker Prospero Nograles, not the shift to a federal or parliamentary system.

Term limits

Solis said that he would want to have the issue of term limits included in Cha-cha discussions, but he pointed out that it would not affect current officials, only those to be elected in 2010.

“I will propose that elective posts should have a term of at least four years and unlimited number of terms,” Solis said, noting that that the current three-year, three-term limit on congressmen and local government officials has been a drag on the economic and political growth of the country.

Antonino stressed that HR 1109 specifically stated that there would be no lifting of term limits on incumbent officials, that elections would be held as scheduled in May, and that the unexpired terms of senators would be respected.

No reason to worry

“There really is no reason for the Senate to be worried. We are just pushing what we believe is the correct interpretation of the Con-ass provision in the Constitution. They should just go to the Supreme Court and seek a definitive ruling,” Antonino said.
He said the framers of the 1987 Constitution had probably wanted Congress to vote as one on Con-ass so that “no chamber will hold the other hostage.”

He said it was important that the high court decide on the Con-ass issue soon so that the next members of Congress could focus on more substantive changes in the Constitution, such as shifting to a parliament.

“She (President Arroyo) can run as a member of the House under the current rules and she can also aspire to be the Speaker of the House which is a very powerful position. She can even be a prime minister in a parliament,” Antonino said.