MANILA, 10 December 2006 — Faced with mounting opposition and possible defection by their allies, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her supporters in the House of Representatives yesterday dropped the move to change the Philippine Constitution via the “Con-ass” mode.

In lieu of “Con-ass,” a label used by critics for constituent assembly, the Arroyo camp said it was now pushing for a constitutional convention (Con-con), one of the three modes available in amending the constitution.

In the Con-ass mode, the House of Representatives and Senate are to be transformed into a constituent assembly for the purpose of rewriting the national charter. In contrast, members of a Con-con are elected nationwide by district.

Local officials aligned with Arroyo earlier tried the “people’s initiative” mode by gathering signatures across the country in a bid to change the constitution. But the Supreme Court shot down the initiative last month, ruling that it was surrounded with fraud and deceipt.

House Speaker Jose de Venecia and the ruling majority in the House of Representatives then tried the “Con-ass” but their attempt to keep the uncooperative Senate out of the picture galvanized opposition from various church groups.

Plans by Catholic and Protestant bishops to lead massive protests forced Arroyo to drop the “Con-ass” like a hot potato.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, the charismatic group El Shaddai, the Jesus is Lord Movement of defeated presidential aspirant Eddie Villanueva, militant groups and civil society, revealed plans to stage mass protests next week if the House pursues its “Con-ass” campaign.

“We hope that finally through a constitutional convention elected directly by the people, the advocacy for political and constitutional reforms can rally the support of the entire Congress and all the sectors of society in a spirit of unity dedicated only to the best interest of the nation,” said Gabriel Claudio, Arroyo’s political adviser.

Claudio claimed the administration has been consistent in its stand to amend the 1987 Constitution by whatever mode in order to reform the political system, although previously, the government openly advocated only a people’s initiative or convening Congress into a constituent assembly.

Gridlock

In seeking to change the constitution, President Arroyo argues that the current presidential two-chamber system causes gridlock that prevents the government from addressing the country’s main problems — poverty and economic underdevelopment.

Her ultimate aim is to replace the current US-style two-chamber presidential system to a unicameral parliament headed by a prime minister.

Opponents, however, say they don’t trust Arroyo, who has been accused of rigging the 2004 election, a charge she has denied.

Sen. Joker Arroyo, one of the opponents of a charter change under Gloria Arroyo, said any such plan at this time won’t prosper.

“This development (dropping of Con-ass) shows that Cha-cha (charter change) is dead. It’s finished, entombed permanently,’’ he said. “This is a big revelation. We’ve won. The constitution stays and we should celebrate already. Any talk about Con-con or the people’s initiative is irrelevant.’’

He said the House leadership’s turnaround showed that it never had the 195 votes, or the support of one-third of all members of Congress, needed to change the charter.

“The shift in the House position is an admission of what I have been saying — that they do not have the numbers; they don’t have the 195. The House leadership, in short, was just bluffing all along,’’ Arroyo said.

“Rather than admit failure, because that is what it is, they’re now making a retreat. They never had the numbers to begin with and they don’t have the numbers now,’’ he added.

Arroyo said the House leadership would have proceeded with its plan to hold a constituent assembly on Tuesday if it had the necessary votes. Senator Arroyo said that the issue of who would become prime minister if Cha-cha succeeded doomed the administration campaign to revise the constitution.

Senators have privately noted that Speaker Jose de Venecia was widely expected to assume the post once the country’s form of government became a parliamentary system.

“The issue here is not Cha-cha. The issue here is the prime ministership and that is what defeated the case of Cha-cha. It sunk the whole thing, even the merits of Cha-cha, if it had any,’’ Arroyo said.

De Venecia’s Threats

Meanwhile, at least seven senators, led by Senate President Manuel Villar, rejected yesterday De Venecia’s 72-hour ultimatum for the Senate to get behind the idea of a con-con.

De Venecia and other administration congressmen held a press conference yesterday morning “challenging” the Senate to muster a two-thirds vote — as required by the constitution — by Thursday to pave the way for elections of delegates to a constitutional convention. The other senators who thumbed down De Venecia’s deadline are Francis Pangilinan, Ralph Recto, Panfilo Lacson, Aquilino Pimentel Jr,. Luisa Estrada and her son Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada.

“Our colleagues in the House are in no position to give us a deadline. The Senate should not be given any deadline on a very important and delicate issue as revising the constitution,” Villar said, calling the ultimatum “a trap aimed at passing the buck on the Senate and forcing it to dance the House Cha-cha tune.”

Villar also stressed that amending the constitution is not a matter of life and death.

“The economy is doing great. In fact, the economic indicators are very rosy — the peso is appreciating, the stock market is bullish, and inflation is being kept at the minimum. I don’t see why we have to impose on ourselves a short deadline in passing laws related to charter change,” he said. (With input from Inquirer News Service & Agencies)