Villafuerte confirms push for Con-Ass, says 156 have signed
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 11/21/2008 3:22 PM
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At least 156 congressmen have signed a resolution calling for the convening of a Constituent Assembly that will amend the 1987 Constitution, a senior administration ally in the House of Representatives confirmed Friday.
In an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC), Rep. Luis Villafuerte of Camarines Sur said the main objective of the resolution is to force a judicial petition before the Supreme Court so that it can rule on whether the two houses of Congress should vote separately or jointly when it comes to amending the charter.
Villafuerte, president of President Arroyo's political party, Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (KAMPI), clarified that there are two resolutions that have been filed in the lower house on charter change.
The first is House Speaker Prospero Nograles' resolution calling for a Constituent Assembly so that the economic protectionist provisions of the 1987 Constitution can be lifted in order to attract more foreign investors.
But Villafuerte said he himself did not sign this resolution since it would be premature for Congress, being merely a law-making body, to take up Nograles' resolution.
He said Congress must first transform itself into a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) before Nograles' resolution can be taken up. Only a Con-Ass and a Constitutional Convention can amend the charter, he said.
"If we want to push for amendments to the Constitution, a Constituent Assembly should first be convened and organized," Villafuerte said. "It is premature to consider this [Nograles] resolution until and unless a Constituent Assembly is first put together."
He said Congressman Adam Jala of Bohol had filed a petition to force the Supreme Court to already rule on whether Congress should be voting jointly or separately in amending the charter, but this was thrown out by the high court for being premature.
"So I said, it would be better if we create a justiciable controversy by convening a Constituent Assembly," he said.
This is the reason for the second resolution that has been introduced in the lower house, which calls for the convening of a Constituent Assembly for the purpose of amending the charter, Villafuerte said.
House Speaker Prospero Nograles himself was the first to sign this resolution, he said, adding that it is Nograles who is the main proponent of the charter change move in the house.
He said that as far as he knows, "156 congressmen have signed this resolution."
"It's still short of three-fourths," he said. "Until we reach three-fourths, we cannot convene a Constitutent Assembly."
Villafuerte denied that there is a "corresponding resolution circulating in the Senate."
"To the best of my knowledge, no such resolution is pending in the Senate," he said.
When a case is filed before the Supreme Court, Villafuerte said it should then rule whether the two houses should be voting separately or jointly on matters involving changing the Constitution.
Most constitutional experts believe that amending the Constitution requires a three-fourths vote of the two houses of Congress voting separately.
Asked how aggressive the charter change resolution is being pushed, he said "the point is, such a resolution is going around."
Critics of the charter change move said the moment a Constituent Assembly is formed, there is no guarantee that only the economic provisions of the Constitution will be taken up.
Opposition leaders and groups have warned that the real goal of the Constituent Assembly is to extend President Arroyo's stay in power.
