Lagman accuses Palace of controlling ‘Cha-cha recipe’

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman. (File photo from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman predicted on Friday any move that might “spoil the broth” of a Charter change would somehow be ineffective because the “principal chef in Malacañang controls the recipe” either way.

Making a forecast on the outcome of proposed amendments in the Constitution, the opposition lawmaker said Congress and the consultative committee that President Rodrigo Duterte formed are expected to recommend the shift to a federal government.

“Despite two bodies consisting of the Congress and the consultative committee discharging duplicating roles of reviewing the 1987 Constitution, any fear that “too many cooks will spoil the broth” is foreclosed because the principal chef in Malacañang controls the recipe,” Lagman said in a statement.

“Congress, which is mainly subservient to the President, and the consultative committee recently constituted by the President, are expected to endorse President Rodrigo Duterte’s insistent call for the adoption of a federal system,” he said.

The prediction was bolstered by the fact that “not a few” of the 19-member committee, headed by former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, are known to favor federalism, he said.

Aside from Puno, the members are Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr., San Beda Graduate School of Law Dean Fr. Ranhilio Aquino, retired Supreme Court Associate Justices Antonio Eduardo Nachura and Bienvenido Reyes, political science professors Julio Cabral Teehankee and Edmund Tayao, and lawyers Roan Libarios, Reuben Canoy and Randolph Parcasio, former Bohol Governor Victor dela Serna, Virgilio Castillo Bautista, Rodolfo Dia Robles, Eddie Mapag Alih, Ali Pangalian Balindong, Laurence Wacnang, Arthur Aguilar, Susan Ubalde-Ordinario, and Antonio Biñas Arellano.

“The crucial question is whether many of the proponents of federalism and the people who are to ratify the constitutional amendments in a plebiscite are fully aware of the reasons, proffered advantages and resultant pitfalls of shifting to a federal structure,” Lagman said.

Lagman added that the Charter change impasse between the House and Senate was “just frozen but not resolved.”

Congress leaders have recently agreed to set aside their differences and instead focus on the draft charter which they would submit for people’s approval. /jpv

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