Press Release
December 11, 2007

Loren sees Senate rejecting cha-cha anew

Senator Loren Legarda said today that she expects the Senate to reject anew moves to amend the constitution emanating from administration allies in the House of Representatives.

Legarda stressed that she sees no pressing reason why the constitution should be overhauled now, more so if the primary reason for doing so would be to change the country's form of government.

"Charter change, whether through a constitutional convention (con-con) or through both house of Congress forming a constituent assembly (con-ass) will just serve as a distraction," Legarda said.

She said the Senate and the House of Representatives can better serve the people by crafting laws that would flesh out the good provisions of the existing constitution.

Likewise, Legarda warned that the people may see the new effort to amend the constitution as a ploy to extend the term of the administration by forgoing the 2010 elections.

"Charter change does not make sense at this point in time, especially if we are to consider the claim of the administration that the country is doing well economically."

The senator, who criticized the 2008 proposed budget as being biased against the poor and the provision of honest-to-goodness social services, said cha-cha will just sidetrack the nation's attention from more pressing problems.

Among these problems is the dehumanizing poverty which has 26 million Filipinos, or 30 percent of the country's population as of the last census, living on just P40 a day.

"In my en contra speech last Monday, I stressed that our priority should be in improving the lot of our people through poverty alleviation, improved health care and access to quality education," she said.

At the Senate floor, Legarda questioned the administration's priorities in its proposed P1.277 trillion budget for 2008, saying it is heavily tilted towards debt servicing at the expense of having enough funds for social services.

"These issues have to be resolved right now since we cannot tell our hungry people that their needs can wait until after we have put in place a new constitution."

Loren emphasized that the present constitution may not be perfect, but that it's not fatally flawed as well.

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