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May 2007 elections will be cancelled! Interim Parliament to sit Nov. 2007?
Published: December 03, 2006 by The Bohol Standard

Confusion has risen to a feverish level as the technical working group created by Malacañang finalized the other day the draft for constitutional amendments, agreeing to a formal motion to cancel the May 2007 elections to pave the way for the formation of an interim parliament in November 2007.

A plebiscite on Charter change will be conducted early next year; - before the deadline of the filing of the certificate of candidacy for senatorial candidates by Feb. 12, 2007.

This was revealed by Surigao del Sur Representative Prospero Pichay and Camarines Sur Representative Luis Villafuerte, who are members of the TWG.

Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado is also a member of the TWG representing the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) together with Sigaw ng Bayan convenor Atty. Raul Lambino.

Presidential Political Adviser Gabriel Claudio said the caucus, attended by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and more than 70 pro-administration House members, was the second of a series of meetings among Charter change proponents to fast track the amendment of the Constitution.

Congress has about four more weeks of sessions before going on a Christmas break.

During the meeting, Arroyo reiterated the need for Charter change as part of her administration’s political reforms to enable the country to catch up with its neighbors and achieve first-world status, Claudio added. But he said the President was leaving the details up to the congressmen.

The simplified proposal was drawn up by the technical working group (TWG), created after the President gave the go-signal last week to the administration's “final push” on Charter-Change.

She also said it would be "ideal" to have a plebiscite first to determine the people's verdict on Charter change.

The adopted set of amendments will then be presented to Congress once it is convened to deliberate on the proposed amendments or revisions to the Constitution, they said.

The House leadership has expressed confidence that the resolution would be approved by a three-fourths vote of Congress before the congressional break on December 22.

Villafuerte and Pichay said they would immediately transmit the resolution to the Commission on Elections so that it could immediately set a date for a plebiscite probably in February 2007.

“There will be three entries in the November elections -- there might be 32 seats for regional representatives, 212 for district representatives, and probably 55 members from the party-list groups,” Pichay said.

The term of all incumbent senators and congressmen, whose term will expire on June 30 2007, will be extended until November 2007, Pichay said.

But senators, whose terms will expire in 2010, will become automatic members of the interim parliament until 2010, he said.

In 2010, Pichay said the elections of new members of the first regular parliament would be held.

Those who will be elected in 2010 will serve a five-year term or until 2015.

In one of their meetings also, Pichay disclosed that a proposal to allow the President to nominate a prime minister had also cropped up, as included in the draft of people’s initiative.

“We should elect a prime minister from among ourselves,” Pichay said. (With reports: Totsie E. Escobia)

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