Opposition launches signature drive to block Charter change

First posted 09:01pm (Mla time) Feb 14, 2006
By Maila Ager
INQ7.net

THE opposition bloc at the House of Representatives has begun a signature campaign to thwart a move by administration-allied legislators to rewrite the Philippine Constitution.
House Minority Floor Leader Francis Escudero and Deputy Minority Leader Roilo Golez told a press conference Tuesday all they needed was 42 signatures or one-fourth of the 236- member House of Representatives to block Charter reforms being pushed by the Palace.

This came a day after Speaker Jose de Venecia announced the majority bloc's plan to gather 195 signatures to approve a measure containing specific amendments to the 1987 Constitution.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been pushing for Charter reforms to allow a shift into a parliamentary form of government, attributing the country’s political impasse to failures in system.

But the opposition had stressed that rewriting the Charter would not address the country’s problems, and urged Arroyo to step down instead.


a three-fourths vote of all members of the House and the Senate is needed to approve the measure. The opposition has been insisting that both chambers of Congress conduct their votes separately.

Escudero was confident the opposition bloc could muster more than 42 signatures, basing on the 51 signatures they gathered during their failed bid to impeach Arroyo in September last year.