Con-ass junked; Concon pushed

The House of Representatives has abandoned the move to tinker with the Constitution via the constituent assembly (con-Ass) mode. This was learned yesterday morning after Speaker Jose de Venecia announced in a press conference. The sudden turnabout in the house position came at a time when the Catholic Church is organizing a massive prayer rally on Dec. 15 against the move to amend the Constitution by convening itself into a cionstituent assembly (Con-ass). Earlier, a Protestant umbrella group, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, is joining the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Phils. and the charismatic Catholic group El Shaddai in opposing the Malacanang-backed move in the House.

The new tack the House is taking is that this time is pushes for a Constitutional Convention. With this new House position on Charter change, the lower house gave until Monday to accept the Concon challenge. But de Venecia's Concon push did not sit well with party-list representatives. Instead, party-list representatives yesterday assailed Speaker de Venecia's call for a constitutional convention, saying the people will not be deceived by the House majority to change the 1987 Constitution under the Arroyo administration. In a text message to ABS-CBN News, Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño said de Venecia and other administration allies "should just drop" the issue of Charter change. He added that the people will reject constitutional amendments as long as Mrs. Arroyo is the sitting president.

"They jut don't get it. Ayaw ng tao ng Cha-cha under [President Arroyo]. It's that simple. They should just drop it," Casiño said. He also described de Venecia's 72-hour deadline to pass a Senate resolution for a constitutional convention as "pathetic." At a press conference Saturday morning, House leaders announced that they would put off a planned constituent assembly on Tuesday but they challenged the Senate to pass a resolution that will pave the way for election of delegates to a constitutional convention.

De Venecia said the House will push through with a constituent assembly if the Senate fails to pass a resolution on Thursday. "They look so pathetic blackmailing the Senate, [Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines ] and the people when, in fact, they are in no position to insist on anything. Pathetic with a capital P," he added. CIBAC Rep. Joel Villanueva, for his part, said the House majority's appeal for a constitutional convention was meant to muddle the issue.

"They knew the people will meet their [constituent assembly] train head-on and they know they will lose thus they now try to slither slowly away from the fight and like a squid squirting ink, they now throw out [constitutional convention] to muddle the issue," he said. Villanueva added that the Senate and the people "would not fall for it." Partido ng Manggagawa Rep. Renato Magtubo, meanwhile, said the deferment was a "partial victory" for anti-Charter change groups but he said the fight is still far from over. "Hindi pa tapos ang laban hangga't hindi sumusuko at bibitawan ni [de Venecia] at [President Arroyo] ang pansarili [nilang] interes sa pagbabago ng Konstitusyon [The fight against Charter change is not yet over as long as de Venecia and President Arroyo continue to push Charter change to advance their personal interests)," Magtubo said.

Magtubo said protest rallies against a constituent assembly and Charter change will push through despite the postponement. Left-leaning groups Akbayan and Sanlakas also announced that mass demonstrations will continue on Tuesday as planned. The two groups also demanded the resignation of the House leaders for putting their personal interests ahead of duty to the country and the people. The senators earlier rejected de Venecia's proposal, with Senate President Manuel Villar declaring that the senators are not taking the three-day deadline seriously. Villar said the senators feel no urgency to amend the Constitution especially after the public clamor over the railroading of Charter change at the House. He added that the upper chamber of Congress "will always take into consideration" what the people want.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, on the other hand, warned the people against dropping their guard against Malacañang's moves to amend the Constitution. He had described the haste by which the House majority passed a resolution convening the Congress into a constituent assembly "a form of constitutional rape." "The people's vigilance must remain undiminished. Rapists and thieves are always capable of re-launching an attack when their victims are least prepared. On top of that, the issue of cheating, lying and stealing has remained unresolved and unanswered by those responsible to this day," Lacson said. He also lauded the Filipinos "for standing their ground, unmoved by the combined bullying and arrogance of power by the so-called representatives fully backed by a scheming chief executive."

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