Press Release
July 20, 2009

SPEAKER NOT TELLING THE REAL SCORE ON CHA CHA - PIMENTEL

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said Speaker Prospero Nograles is just trying to please and give false hope to Malacañang when he issued a statement that Charter Change is "back on track" and remains a priority of the House of Representatives even if he knows that the proposal is in a state of limbo.

Despite the fact that the House had passed Resolution 1109 calling for the convening of a Constituent Assembly, Pimentel said Nograles knows that it is wishful thinking to pursue the move to amend the Constitution because the Senate is against it and because of the lack of public support.

The senators have unanimously opposed House Resolution ll09 since it provides that the two chambers of Congress will vote jointly on every amendment. If this rule is followed, the 22 senators (minus the incarcerated Antonio Trillanes) will always be outvoted by the 230 or so congressmen. The senators insist that the Senate and House should vote separately on every amendment as is the practice and tradition when voting for bills and resolutions.

"Nograles and company are still daydreaming. They seem to suffer from amnesia by forgetting the bicameral structure of Congress which requires the two chambers to vote separately, and not jointly, on major or minor legislative measures. It defies logic and common sense that they want to do away with this basic rule when voting on amendments to the Constitution," Pimentel said.

The minority leader expressed dismay that Malacañang and its House minions refuse to give up Charter Change - whose hidden agenda is to allow President Arroyo to stay in office beyond 2010 - even in the face of the second quarter of 2009 Social Weather Stations Survey showing that 70 percent of the voting population is against the move to tamper with the Constitution.

The survey, conducted nationwide on June 19 to 22, also revealed that 55 percent of respondents believes that Mr. Arroyo was behind the efforts to amend the Charter to advance his selfish political interest.

Given this overwhelming public sentiment, Pimentel said it would be political suicide for the administration to go ahead with Charter Change because the amendments it is pushing is headed for rejection by the people in a plebiscite.

He said only a national leadership that enjoys high credibility and public trust has the moral right to espouse and pursue Charter Change because it will shape the destiny of the nation.

With Mrs. Arroyo's public satisfaction rating plunging to a dismal negative 3l percent in the same SWS survey, Pimentel said the administration's refusal to abandon Charter Change could only be described as the height of insensitivity and delusion.

Pimentel said it is no wonder that many Filipinos reacted skeptically when they heard the President say a few days ago: "Let me say in no uncertain terms, there will be elections in 2010."

He noted that some political pundits sarcastically asked whether the President was referring to a presidential or parliamentary election.

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