Noynoy dodges Cha-cha issue; to create body to study change
By Aytch S. de la Cruz and Angie M. Rosales 07/03/2010 Former President Arroyo, today a bonafide congressman representing Pampanga’s second district, has caused a political stir in her recent move of filing a resolution in the House of Representatives calling for a constitutional change through a constitutional convention (con-con), succeeding in getting her political foes and allies to react and take her seriously in her new role. She even succeeded in getting her successor, President Aquino, to announce that he will form a commission to study Charter change (Cha-cha), but also saying that this is not a priority in his government. His stand today is seen as a way of dodging and delaying the issue of changing the Charter now that he and his allies are in power and position. Aquino yesterday said he will form another commission to deal with the Cha-cha resolution filed the other day by Arroyo. He explained that the commission he will form is a part of the campaign promise he declared publicly before he was sworn to presidency but stressed that this body would likely take shape after he is done building the structure for the Truth Commission. “As I told you, we’ll form that commission to study the need for it (Cha-cha) and whether or not the people are requesting it,” Aquino said during the first ambush interview he granted to the media during the turnover rites between the new Armed Forces chief of Staff and the acting AFP chief of staff in Camp Aguinaldo. Charter change, however, is not a function of the executive department but a function of Congress which has the power to amend, revise, abrogate the Charter through a constituent assembly with a required number sought, or to call for a constitutional convention (con-con). The recommendations that the body to be created by Aquino for this study purpose, may prove worthless. But the Chief Executive claimed that there is a need to scrutinize the reasons that necessitate government to amend the present Constitution given the weight of this issue which has long been a subject of many political debates in and outside the legislative chambers. “We will have to analyze if there is really a need to change the Constitution because this is not an easy thing to do. There are negative consequences guaranteed in the short term so you really have to prove that the gains are better than the risks,” Aquino said. Source: The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100703hed1.html |
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