Presidential son and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo called on administration allies in Congress Friday to stop pursuing Charter change (Cha-cha), saying the nation is now busy preparing for next year’s elections.

“To put an end to this incessant talk that Cha-cha is meant to extend my mother’s term, let’s have Cha-cha after 2010,” Arroyo said.

Arroyo reacted to reports that he and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez had sought to enlist Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. in late February to help in marshalling votes for the move to amend the Constitution through a constituent assembly (con-ass).

Arroyo clarified that he and Romualdez chanced upon the former speaker at the House session hall and that after greeting each other, De Venecia invited them to his second-floor office for a chat.

“We did not seek him out to discuss Cha-cha or getting votes for Cha-cha with him,” he said.

Arroyo said their chat with De Venecia “was a conversation on everything, and Cha-cha was just a small part of it.”

“We talked about good times, bad times, how each other’s family is doing, how my ninang (godmother) Gina (de Venecia) is doing. That was the first time we had a chat since he was replaced,” he said.

De Venecia was replaced as speaker in February 2008 shortly after his son and namesake Joey linked President Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo to irregularities and corruption in the $329-million national broadband network (NBN) deal.

Rep. Arroyo said it was the former speaker who brought up the Cha-cha issue during their conversation.

He said it was Romualdez who presented to De Venecia the still-to-be-filed resolution asking Congress to convene as a con-ass to propose amendments to the Constitution.

“He (De Venecia) read the (proposed) resolution, including the parameters for con-ass, one of which states categorically that there will be elections in 2010. He even suggested that the shift to the parliamentary system be included in the resolution,” Arroyo said.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, on the other hand, said that in case Cha-cha does not happen, the government would declare an “emergency rule” with stage-managed explosions and terror attacks to justify the situation.

In case all the above proved futile or non-viable, then the 2010 elections would take place, he said.

But even in this eventuality, Cruz said there still remains a reserved option – still well in line with the “Fixation of Ruling.”

Cruz painted the scenario that there would be failure of elections in 2010 due to accusations of cheating borne out of unfamiliarity with the modernized voting method.

“Result: Big accusations and loud counter-accusations of cheating – much more fierce and violent than those previously staged on the occasion of all previous manual elections. Recourse: Proclamation of the failure of election,” Cruz said.

“Conclusion: Satisfaction of the fixation to continue ruling. Neat!” he added. – With Eva Visperas