MANILA, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s allies have indeed considered convening a constituent assembly when the Chief of State delivers the State of the Nation Address on July 27 at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City, an important state function which senators are expected to attend.

“That is one of the scenarios we have discussed because even one or two senators in attendance is enough to convene a Con-ass,” Ilocos Norte Rep. Roque Ablan Jr. told reporters on Monday.

Ablan said that the Sona delivery was the best “window of opportunity” for the Con-ass because it was the only time that all congressmen and senators were together in one place.

The Sona session is the annual gathering of senators and congressmen at the Batasan to hear President Arroyo detail her accomplishments and plans before Congress resumed its sessions.

A number of senators have already announced that they planned to snub the Sona to avoid “falling into the trap.” But Ablan said the plan remained viable because he believed that a number of administration senators would still attend the session.

On Sunday, however, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said that he would make sure senators were out of the door of the Batasang Pambansa as soon as the House tried to convene a constituent assembly after the President delivered her Sona.

“If they will try to convene Con-ass, I will immediately adjourn the session of the Senate,” Enrile said, calling such a move by the House as “illegal” and “unconstitutional.”

Saying he knew his “parliamentary rules,” Enrile said that before the convening of the joint session of Congress afternoon of July 27, the Senate and the House of Representatives would convene separately to pass a resolution “calling for a joint session of Congress.”

“And we state the purpose (in the calling for a joint session of Congress)—to hear the Sona message of the President,” Enrile said.

“We will just hear the President’s Sona and there will be no more agenda.”

Senators have unanimously passed a resolution branding the House bid to amend the Constitution without the Senate through a Con-ass as unconstitutional. They have also pledged not to participate in a Senate-less Con-ass.

Enrile doubted whether House leaders would pull off such a stunt as he gave assurance that the scenario would not happen and that even President Macapagal Arroyo would not allow it.

“Even the President will not allow a thing like that. We’re actually abusing the Constitution,” Enrile said on private radio station dzBB.

The presence of senators, albeit token, in a Con-ass was seen by some administration lawmakers as necessary in order to give credence to what they planned as an act of Congress and not just one of its chambers.

Ablan said the plan to convene a Con-ass during the Sona was cooked up shortly after House Resolution 1109, which seeks to form a Con-ass to change the constitution with the two chambers voting as one and not separate bodies, was railroaded on June 2.

As far as he was concerned, Ablan said, the Con-ass at the Sona was still part of the options being considered by the House leadership.

“It’s up to our House leaders to decide what we will do. We have to convene a Con-ass so that the Supreme Court can decide on it,” said Ablan.