A Palace official said Thursday that it had no other agenda but a peace agreement in Mindanao in pushing for a federal system of government.
Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Gabriel Claudio told reporters in Cagayan de Oro that lifting the term limits of incumbent officials, including President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's, is not part of the Senate's Joint Resolution 10, which seeks to convene Congress into a Constituent Assembly and approve a shift to a federal form of government.
Claudio said the Palace's support for federalism is based on its desire to resolve decades of conflict in southern Philippines through a peace agreement with Moro rebels.
However, Claudio acknowledged there is no assurance that other political players will not try to introduce new items such as lifting of term limits once a Constituent Assembly is already in place.
Claudio was in Cagayan de Oro with other members of the Cabinet to meet with governors on the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's (MILF) Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), which seeks to grant Muslims an expanded and more powerful homeland in the south.
The MOA-AD was set to be signed August 5 in Malaysia but the Supreme Court issued a restraining order on the signing August 4 in response to petitions from local officials who complained they were not consulted on the agreement.
In their meeting with Claudio, governors of Palawan and Mindanao reportedly agreed to try to iron out items in the MOA-AD that are being opposed by some local officials, particularly from North Cotabato and Zamboanga.
Claudio said they explained to the governors the implications of the MOA-AD, and the governors agreed to take a unified stand on the MOA-AD.
Claudio also challenged senators, who plan to withdraw their support to the Senate's Joint Resolution 10, to remain firm in their support for peace in Mindanao if they truly believe that federalism can really help solve many of the problems in the south.
No stopping Con-Ass
Lawyer Christian Monsod, one of the members of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, told dzMM Thursday that there is no way to limit the Constituent Assembly from tackling only a shift to a federal system of government for the sake of granting Muslims an expanded and more powerful homeland in southern Philippines.
"If the Constituent Assembly has been convened, it has plenary powers. I don't think you can limit by law what the Constituent Assembly can take up," Monsod said.
The Senate's Joint Resolution 10, sponsored by at least 12 senators, seeks to convene Congress into a Constituent Assembly for the purpose of revising the Constitution to establish a federal system of government that will create 11 federal states, including a Bangsamoro Federal State.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel, one of the authors of the measure, believes the resolution limits what the Constituent Assembly can take up.
But Monsod disagreed, saying a Constituent Assembly "will really open all other amendments that may be considered" by the 22 senators and 238 members of the House of Representatives.
He explained that like the 1986 Constitutional Commission or a constitutional convention, the members of the Constituent Assembly will "define their own rules once they convene."
Monsod said it should be clear in these rules that any measure that will be proposed by the Constituent Assembly must be put to a vote to both houses of Congress voting separately, as what is provided in the 1987 Constitution.
Gordon agrees
In a separate interview also on dzMM Thursday, Senator Richard Gordon, chair of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, also said that once Congress convenes into a Constituent Assembly, it can take up any proposal.
"It becomes a plenary group. Tuloy-tuloy na yan. You can't say, let's just change this," Gordon said.
He said charter change via a Constituent Assembly can be done but it should be after 2010.
Gordon said proposing a shift to a federal-parliamentary system of government at this time will always make people suspect that its main goal is to extend the term of incumbent officials. -- with a report from RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News