The Philippine Online Chronicles

President Noynoy Aquino is standing firm against charter change (cha-cha) due to the lack of urgency to amend the 1987 Constitution.

“It cannot be that you will only consider perfect timing, you also need to consider whether there is an urgent need to do so,” said deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, referring to lawmakers saying that the Aquino administration would be the best time to push for amending the Constitution as Aquino has already said that he would not be pursuing political office after his term ends in 2016.

Previous attempts to push for cha-cha had fallen through, in part due to suspicions that then-presidents Fidel V. Ramos and after him Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, would use the change in government to prolong their terms.

On the other hand, Aquino enjoys a high trust rating among Filipinos, and would not be suspected of any ill motive, said former Chief Justice Reynato Puno who has voiced his support for cha-cha.

"The President is enjoying a very high trust rating, and he himself has seen some of these difficulties in his first six months in office,” said Puno. “I’d like to think that we can address these difficulties by amending some of the provisions in the Constitution.”

“I reject the argument that there is no urgency in amending the Constitution to arrest the decline of our democracy,” Puno added. “We do not need a democracy on a stretcher. We cannot wait for our democracy to be in the ICU before calling the doctors.”

According to Valte however, cha-cha is not a priority for the administration.

"The President has always been consistent in saying that nobody has been able to present an argument to prove that there really is urgency in changing the Constitution and that, again, not doing so would place the country at risk," she said.

“I believe that the former chief justice said that democracy is on a stretcher. We’d like to respond by saying that democracy is already in the recovery room as of May 2010,” she added.

Valte also said that the president acknowledges that the current Constitution is an “imperfect document,” but that the administration would like to focus on more pressing matters first.

“The President has already acknowledged even before that the Constitution is an imperfect document and there seem to be things that need to be thought over, but again, the [constitution] cannot be our only consideration,” she said.

Meanwhile, Eastern Samar Representative Ben Evardone, who restarted talks about cha-cha in Congress over the weekend, said that a broad multisectoral alliance would be needed to boost the movement to amend the Constitution.

“It would be better if we all join forces, and I’m trying to get in touch with the Senate President [Juan Ponce Enrile], Justice Puno, the Catholic bishops [of the atholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)] and all those who believe in the urgency of fundamental constitutional reforms,” Evardone said.