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CIVIL WAR LOOMS?
Published: December 10, 2006 by The Bohol Standard

President Arroyo may have bitten more than she could chew this time.

Massive rallies will be held beginning tomorrow by various sectors and other religious groups in protest of the insistence of the House of Representatives to do it alone, without the Senate, in amending the 1987 Constitution. The determined push of the Arroyo administration using the ally-dominated Lower House has been branded by almost all cross section of society as a “shameful act of constitutional rape” allegedly meant to extend indefinitely the terms of incumbent officials. To join the rallies are the millions of members of the Catholic church, an estimated 7-million members of the influential charismatic movement El Shaddai headed by Bro. Mike Velarde, the Jesus is Lord Movement of Bro. Eddie Villanueva and the Bangon Pilipino compromising non-government groups. Militants also vowed that if they can’t be heard in congress, they will take their fight against cha-cha into the streets.

Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño said it’s “people power” time again.The militant group is preparing for nationwide mass actions to protest the convening Tuesday of a “bogus” constituent assembly.“I thanked GMA and De Venecia allies in the lower house for helping revive people power. The coming people power season preludes the ouster of a fake leader,” Casiño said.In January 2001, a spontaneous gathering of people on EDSA ousted former president Joseph Estrada after his allies derailed an impeachment trial against him in the Senate.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel, author of the local government code, spoke to Boholanos on Wednesday saying they are not joining the con-ass initiated by the congressmen.Interviewed by Ted Ayeng over radio DyTR-Am, Pimentel said the house invitation sent to senators is a “trap”.“Ang imbitasyon usa ka laang. Daghan man ang mga congresista kay kanamo- busa sa pagboto ila ming lumsan. Dili kami mosulod sa maong laang,” the former senate president said.

EASY JOB
Majority congressmen allied with Pres. Arroyo confidently said they can amend the constitution by getting at least 195 votes (3/4 of members of Congress) even without the bicameral (Senate) participation. The constituent assembly pushed by the house of Representatives will convene on Tuesday (not Monday as reported) at 10 a.m. and the first order of the day would be its organizational set-up.

“We will elect a presiding officer, designate a secretary general, majority leader and other officers and it will only take three to four days for the assembly to approve the proposed amendments in the 1987 Constitution,” Rep. Constantino Jaraula, chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments said.

The 9-man technical working group (TWG) created by Pres. Arroyo had proposed in a 60-page draft the six-month transition period setting the election for the interim parliament on Nov. 2007 and cancellation of the mid-term May 2007 elections.

The proposal was reduced into a three-page simplified draft focusing on the shift from presidential to the parliamentary-unicameral form of government.The new system will abolish the Senate including the office of vice president Noli De Castro.

DEFECTION?
Senators, among them allies of President Macapagal-Arroyo, yesterday further closed ranks and declared they would boycott the “illegal and unconstitutional” constituent assembly (Con-ass) convened by the House of Representatives.Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. and his colleagues rejected the invitation sent out by House Secretary General Roberto Nazareno on Thursday afternoon requesting their presence in the Con-ass set to begin on Tuesday morning.

“This [process] is not legal; we’re not going to honor this invitation,” Villar told the Inquirer.Sen. Franklin Drilon said the chamber was solidly behind this position. “We don’t want to participate in an illegal and unconstitutional assembly because our attendance will give it some color of legitimacy. Nobody will attend,” he said. In a surprise move, administration Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. announced at a press briefing that he would not join the Con-ass.Revilla was the 22nd senator to sign a new Senate resolution expressing the sense of the chamber that the House’s attempt to amend the Charter without the Senate voting separately was unconstitutional. The resolution, which only Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has not signed, is expected to be adopted on the floor on Monday.Said Revilla, a close ally of Ms Arroyo:

“I am not against Charter change per se. I must only disagree with the process being spirited by the House to amend the Constitution unilaterally, and I cannot take part in what I believe is a fatally flawed procedure.“Let it be said, I will take no part in the supposed constituent assembly being orchestrated by the House alone.”

‘BOGUS’ INVITATION
Hours after the House majority voted early Thursday morning to approve Resolution No. 197, which substituted for Resolution No. 1450, Nazareno transmitted a communication to each of the senators informing them of the Con-ass and requesting their attendance.But Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan said the invitation was “bogus” because Resolution No. 197 convening Congress into a Con-ass was in itself a fake resolution with “no legal effect whatsoever.”

“By their own illegal act, this ‘final push’ by the House of Representatives is turning out to be the final nail in the coffin for Cha-cha at this time,” Pangilinan said.On Thursday, Senate Pro Tempore Juan Flavier and Sen. Lito Lapid, close allies of the President, and Senators Richard Gordon, Ralph Recto and Juan Ponce Enrile categorically said they would not honor the invitation. The rest of the senators were expected to adopt the same position.

“That’s an indication of what they feel about the Con-ass,” Villar said when asked if the 22 senators who had signed the Senate resolution would snub the assembly. Santiago had indicated that she would join the Con-ass only if “a substantial number” of senators would do so.

On Monday, a day before the Con-ass, the Senate committee on constitutional amendments will tackle pending proposals to amend the Charter through a Con-ass and a constitutional convention, including House Resolution No. 26 convening Congress to propose amendments or revisions.Those invited to speak are Fr. Joaquin Bernas SJ, retired Justice Vicente Mendoza, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde.

SALONGA JOINS
Adding his voice to the chorus of condemnation, former Senate President Jovito Salonga said the House-only Con-ass would fall by the wayside. “What happened in the House is fraudulent and unthinkable, except that you’re dealing with people in the lower House,” he said in a phone interview.

“[But] with all the decent elements in civil society fighting it, I don’t see how the Con-ass will succeed,” he added. Salonga said the two-day marathon sessions that led to the approval of Resolution No. 197 were void from the start because the House majority had “changed the rules to suit their selfish interest.”

“The rules of the House contemplate the participation of the Senate. They amended the rules in utter disregard of the Senate,” he said, adding: “You can’t have a Con-ass without the participation of the Senate. Simple common sense shows that even changing the name of a town requires bicameral approval. And now we’re talking of amending the whole Constitution.”

Salonga, who was Senate President from 1987 to 1991 during the turbulent Aquino administration, said the invitation sent out by Nazareno was “a confirmation of their fraudulent act.”

“It’s like inviting someone to participate in an obscene act,” he said, even as he pointed out that the participation of any number of senators in Con-ass would not lend legitimacy to the proceedings. “You can’t legitimize an act that is wrong ab initio.” (With reports from Peoples Journal, PDI)

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