Kampi’s Cha-cha ‘wild card option’ won’t work — Golez

The Philippine Star 02/11/2006

The so-called "wild card option" that the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) has decided to use to force the issue on Charter change (Cha-cha) won’t work, Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez said yesterday.

He said obtaining the signatures or votes for Cha-cha of 195 members of the House of Representatives would be "an impossible task."

"One hundred ninety-five warm bodies, not signatures, are needed in plenary session to approve Cha-cha. Only 42 members absent, voting against or abstaining are enough to kill the Kampi initiative," he said.

Kampi announced its signature-gathering plan on Thursday. Antipolo City Rep. Ronaldo Puno, incoming secretary of interior and local government and Kampi president, said it is his party’s contention that 195 congressmen and congresswomen, who constitute three-fourths of the combined membership of 260 of the Senate and the House, can propose constitutional amendments.

Puno and his colleagues cited Article 17, Section 1 of the Constitution, which reads: "Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by Congress upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members."

The local government secretary-designate said the Constitution does not require that the Senate and the House vote separately and that each chamber has to obtain a vote of three-fourths of its members.

"All it provides is that Congress may propose amendments by a three-fourths vote, or 195 of all its members, even if all those 195 are members of the House," he added.

He expressed confidence that Kampi can get more than 195 signatures in two weeks.

"We had 158 to defeat the impeachment (initiative against President Arroyo in September). Mas madali itong Cha-cha (Cha-cha is easier). All we need are 37 more votes," he said.

He added that they have informed President Arroyo and Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. of their signature-gathering initiative.

The tack that Kampi has taken is what Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Constantino Jaraula, who chairs the House constitutional amendments committee, has described as the congressmen’s "wild card option." Under this option, the House would go it alone and bypass the Senate on Cha-cha. Golez said if the impeachment vote were used as a basis, the wild card route would fail. "We had 51 votes for impeaching the President, plus six abstentions, or a total of 57. Only 42 votes are needed to throw out the wild card," he said. "And there is the constitutional brick wall of the Senate and the House voting separately," he added.

Golez, who was a Kampi member before he quit after calling for Mrs. Arroyo’s resignation and later voting for her impeachment, suggested that his former party boss immediately assume the position of interior and local government secretary.

"He should fix the public order mess. He can make a difference there, instead of getting himself bogged down in political trench warfare he can’t win," he said. — Jess Diaz