House leader says next three months crucial for Cha-cha

A senior House official said Wednesday the next three months would be “crucial" for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s push for amending the 1987 Philippine Constitution. House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles said that by October, senators and congressmen would be too busy preparing for the 2007 elections and would likely spend less time on their legislative works. The same goes true with local executives, Nograles said, since they will also be preoccupied with their reelection bids and expectedly, spare little time pushing Cha-cha to their respective constituents. “I think we are running out of time. I think we will have a very hard time pushing for Charter change. The next 90 days will be very crucial, because any delay in Cha-cha, by any mode, is not good for the country," Nograles said in a press briefing. “By the end of October, that is already election fever… that will be the time (of local officials) for campaigning. The political parties will be very busy by then," Nograles said. The filing of candidacies for national positions starts in December while local officials have until February next year to do so. The campaign period for national positions will start February 2007 and for local positions, in March. Nograles refused to comment when asked to confirm Speaker Jose de Venecia’s claim that the House majority bloc had obtained the signature of 183 congressmen to push for Charter change. The figure is 12 short of the needed 195 votes to convert Congress into a constituent assembly to propose Charter amendments. The Senate, on the other hand, had insisted that both houses of Congress vote separately on transforming Congress into a constituent assembly. “The Speaker is keeping his cards close to his chest. I suppose he can provide the necessary miracle when the time comes," Nograles said. During the opening of the third regular session of the 13th Congress on Monday, De Venecia reiterated that now is the best time to shift to a unicameral legislature under a federal-parliamentary form of government. “This year I believe we have reached a point where charter reform has become inevitable on the historic and strategic scale. We have awakened a national consensus for constitutional reform," De Venecia had said. - GMANews.TV