By Aurea Calica
Philstar
Senators warned yesterday that fresh attempts by Malacañang and the House of Representatives to change the Constitution to pave the way for President Arroyo’s rule beyond 2010 could have a “bloody” backlash.
“There will be blood,” Sen. Joker Arroyo warned, borrowing a title of a popular Hollywood movie.
It was an observation shared by most if not all of his colleagues.
“They can pursue it over our dead body. I will oppose it. I am against it,” Arroyo said.“It’s not proper at this time. It’s dead in the water.”
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. also warned that a unilateral House action to amend the Constitution “will be bloody, figuratively speaking.”
“They’ll have to overrun two barriers: Tirad Pass of Constitution and Thermophylae defense line of the opposition,” Pimentel said.
Tirad Pass was where Gen. Gregorio del Pilar’s last stand against the Americans during the Philippine-American War while Thermophylae was where Spartan King Leonidas and his small army died valiantly trying to repulse Persian invaders.
Allies of Malacañang are working to secure more than l78 signatures on a resolution to convene the Senate and the House into a constituent assembly to amend the Constitution jointly and not separately.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senators Arroyo, Richard Gordon, Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Manuel Roxas II, Francis Escudero, Benigno Aquino III, Francis Pangilinan, Pia and Alan Peter Cayetano, Manuel Villar Jr. and Pimentel said the House could not simply disregard the general public’s disdain for Mrs. Arroyo’s term extension through Charter change.
Roxas and Pimentel said the House strategy could be this: it would go to the Commission on Elections after gathering the required 178 signatures, or three-fourths of the 238-member House, to introduce amendments to the 21-year-old Constitution for a plebiscite.
If it fails, Roxas said they would likely go to the Supreme Court and see if the Palace could flex its muscle on the justices appointed by Mrs. Arroyo to get a favorable decision.
All the senators said it would be unconstitutional for the House to pursue Cha-cha on its own since a constituent assembly would entail Senate action.
“The House is not Congress. Cha-cha is unlikely because even if they have the votes in the House, if the Senate will not vote for it, then nothing will happen. The first step is to convoke two houses, you need the majority in the House and Senate, separate action,” Enrile said.
He said it would be difficult to get the 18 senators to vote for Cha-cha as senators had made their stand against amending the Constitution before 2010.
“They cannot do that because they know that it is not in accordance with the Constitution. And they will be very foolish if they will try to do it,” Pimentel said.
“It is very clear even to freshmen law students on constitutional law that that cannot be done. We have two chambers of Congress, and you cannot have one chamber doing things alone by itself,” he said. “One chamber cannot even pass a new law creating a new barangay or the national budget bill by itself. And more so, it cannot amend the Constitution unilaterally,” he added.
Pimentel said the objective of the Palace was to establish a parliamentary system that would allow Mrs. Arroyo to run for member of parliament in her home province, Pampanga, and later for prime minister.
“They feel cocksure that the Supreme Court will rule in their favor this time, specially with the anticipated appointment of more justices in the tribunal to fill the vacancies that will be created with the impending retirement of seven associate justices next year.”
“It’s a combustible matter,” Gordon said of the new Cha-cha bid. “It will divide the nation when the focus must be on the global financial crisis and what should be done.”
He said many officials have an “insatiable desire to hang on to power and the people are being taken for granted.”
“It will be a distraction and will create trouble,” Roxas said, adding that
“President Arroyo must stop this. This is bad for the economy, I think this is her last card to stay in power.”
Pangilinan cautioned the Palace against testing the patience of a “deeply disappointed and resentful people” or face another people power.
“There is a growing sense of bitterness and deep-seated resentment among our people that, if unleashed by the arrogance of those in power, can lead to the removal from office of President Arroyo in a manner that may not be peaceful and worse, constitutional,” Pangilinan warned.
“The Arroyo government should not take the people for fools who will be willing to swallow the garbage called Cha-cha it is now dishing out,” he said.
“The times are harder than ever, and with the blatant display of personal political ambitions, our people do not trust the national leadership,” Pangilinan said.
Dangerous Senate?
Talks of Cha-cha have been circulating after a coup in the Senate Monday catapulted Enrile to the Senate presidency.
Fueling Cha-cha speculations was Press Secretary Jesus Dureza’s prayer for Mrs. Arroyo’s leadership to go beyond 2010.
“Charter change must be done in the right way and not before 2010 so as to ensure that it will not be used as a tool for term extension and other vested political interests,” Pangilinan said.
“What we see now are politicians lording it over the nation, when it should be the other way around. We are mere servants to the public, and their plight should be the first of our concerns,” he said.
Pangilinan and Pia Cayetano said despite the minority’s apparent handicap, it would do everything in its power to stop any attempt at Cha-cha.
Revilla branded as mere intrigue the talk about the new majority secretly supporting Cha-cha.
Condemnation
An avalanche of condemnation greeted the latest bid of administration politicians to have the Constitution changed.
“I will go out of my way to block Cha-cha. I will block it at all cost, especially since even Press Secretary Jesus Dureza expressed the possibility of extending President Arroyo’s term beyond 2010. It’s a clear indication that she is bent on extending her term,” former President Joseph Estrada told The STAR over the phone.
“He (Enrile) told me that they (senators) will maintain (their) independence. He said that nobody can dictate on him. He has palabra de honor (word of honor) and I think he must live his legacy,” Estrada said.
“There is a confluence of events that belies the latest claims of disinterest on the part of the GMA administration concerning Charter change and its evil twin, term extension,” said Black and White convenor Leah Navarro.
“It was a trial balloon raised to gauge the people’s response,” she said.
“Dureza’s prayer was no slip of the tongue and the imagined lukewarm response was enough to propel the House of Representatives into Cha-cha motion,” Navarro said.
“We continue to warn our people – if we do not show our indignation, if we continue to ignore these moves, if we do not make our loathing known, we could wake up one day finding our freedoms forfeited and our democracy trampled upon,” Navarro said.
“We should be alarmed. Everyone should express their alarm, especially the media, they should inform the public,” said Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Bishop Iniguez, who chairs the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Public Affairs Committee.
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said a “confluence of events” showed the administration was setting the stage for Cha-cha.
He said the events include, among others, Enrile’s being named to the top Senate post and Dureza’s prayer faux pas.
“These are very evident signs that the national leadership is strongly and seriously holding on to power even after 2010,” said Cruz.
“The stand of the CBCP is that this is not the time for a change, specially during the time of this administration because there would be those who have vested interest and it would not be good for the country,” Malolos Bishop Jose Oliveros said.
“Nepotism, which empowered elite rule through clan and patronage politics, is a direct violation of the spirit of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Abusing it to change the Charter altogether and extend the seven-year rule of the Arroyos in Malacañang and in Congress is crass opportunism,” Anakapawis secretary-general Cherry Clemente said.
The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said it might launch anti-Cha-cha rallies in December to dramatize its protest, secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr. said.
Palace playing coy
“It’s hard to imagine Mrs. Arroyo not knowing what her son is doing, or her son going against the wishes of his mother. The Con-Ass resolution of Mikey Arroyo is the best confirmation we have that Mrs. Arroyo intends to hold on to power beyond 2010,” Makati City Mayor and leader of the United Opposition Jejomar Binay said.
“I’m sorry to say this, but all those who have publicly made statements that Mrs. Arroyo will step down in 2010 might have to eat their words. Clearly, Mrs. Arroyo has no plan to leave the Palace,” he said.
Meanwhile, a House leader said Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), Mrs. Arroyo’s party, is the principal force behind the latest Cha-cha bid.
“This is the play of Kampi,” the House leader, who declined to be named, said. With Jose Rodel Clapano, Michael Punonbayan, Evelyn Macairan, Katherine Adraneda, and Jess Diaz
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