Senate has no numbers for Charter change—Joker Arroyo

Former Sen. Joker Arroyo. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—For all the noise about Charter change (Cha-cha), the Senate could not muster the number of votes to get it done, former Sen. Joker Arroyo said on Friday.

Arroyo said that the House of Representatives could easily muster the three-fourths vote to amend the Constitution “as recent events have shown.”

But in the Senate, it’s an entirely different story, Arroyo said, recalling that the chamber had had difficulty mustering the minimum 16 votes to convict impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona in May 2012.

“In the Senate, however, the administration cannot get the three-fourths vote or 18 members, presently,” he said in a statement.

“As matters stand presently, the drive to amend the Constitution by lifting the ban on the one-term limit for the president or for relaxing the limits on foreign ownership through  ‘the Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members,’ or any scheme similar to that is bound to fail,” he added.

President Aquino’s comments in last month’s interview with TV5 had triggered speculations about an administration push for Cha-cha. TJ Burgonio