MANILA - The morning after was hazy.

House leaders on Wednesday couldn't give straight answers on their next steps after they approved the convening of a Constituent assembly (Con-ass) to amend the 1987 Constitution.
 
"It will be with the committee on rules. I've talked to the majority leader. As soon as we are rested in a couple of days, next week, we will meet. And we will convene the leadership of the House, and we will iron out the kinks and the legal mechanism and determine what is the next legal move after it is approved," House Speaker Prospero Nograles told reporters.
 
Nograles said he plans to meet with senators to explain the House's decision.

"Most of them are my friends. They came from the House of Representatives. I'll have coffee with them. It's unofficial. It's [meeting] personal," he said.

Supreme Court ruling
 
Referring to the Supreme Court, Nograles said "there is a need for a legal referee to come in to at least enlighten the legal minds on what to do."
 
"We have differences of opinion with respect to what we are going to do after we approve HR [House Resolution] 1109. Even on the floor, very many people have very many views on the subject matter," he added.
 
Nevertheless, Nograles dismissed as "premature" the move by lawyer Oliver Lozano to question HR 1109. "We just approved it last night," he said.
 
Asked if the plan is to convene Constituent assembly after President Arroyo's State of the Nation Address in July, Nograles said, "That's possible."
 
"Here in the Philippines, everything is possible under the sun. You don't rule out anything," Nograles added.
 
Next: Con-ass rules

Rules committee chair and House majority leader Iloilo Rep. Arthur Defensor, whose committee is now tasked to lay down the ground rules for the convening of the Constituent Assembly, is openly opposed to HR 1109.

Although he was a signatory, he said he did so only to "accommodate" the proponents.
 
Defensor said he does not believe that the Senate can be bypassed when it comes to approving charter amendments.

As opposed to separate voting, joint voting by the Constituent assembly would allow the numerically dominant House of Representatives to meet the three-fourths vote needed to amend the charter without the help of one senator.

The Senate has vowed to blocked the House move.
 
Some congressmen who sponsored HR 1109 on the floor Tuesday night also disagreed with joint voting.

Key administration ally Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia and committee on constitutional amendments chair La Union Rep. Victor Ortega both said the resolution has to be sent to the Senate.

Just a piece of  paper 
 
"As it is now, it is a useless piece of paper," said Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño, a member of the minority and who vigorously opposed HR 1109. However, he warned that the resolution may be used to amend the Charter to allow President Arroyo to stay in power beyond 2010.
 
"We don't fear the resolution itself. What we fear is how they will interpret it. They could find the weakest justification to ram through their political agenda. Even if the basis is weak, it may be enough for them to convene a Constituent assembly," Casiño said.

Speculations are rife that Malacañang's agenda is to convene a Constituent assembly and change the current presidential form of government to a parliamentary system.

After this is approved, President Arroyo will run for district representative in Pampanga in 2010 and eventually become prime minister.
 
"It is lamentable that the majority of the honorable members of the House of Representatives should conform to an administration plot to perpetuate its power by changing the form of government from presidential to parliamentary. It is now increasingly clear that President Arroyo has no intention of holding presidential elections in 2010. Instead, the plan is for her to run for member of parliament in Pampanga and for prime minister in a parliamentary system," said Senator Loren Legarda.
 
Nograles dismissed this as speculation.