Congressional leaders reach compromise on Cha-cha

FILE: House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. (Photo: Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez/Facebook)

MANILA — House and Senate leaders have forged an agreement to first reach a consensus on the general features of the federal government being envisioned to break the deadlock on Charter change (Cha-cha), Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said on Thursday.

In a radio interview, Alvarez said the compromise was reached on Wednesday night during his meeting with Senate President Aquilino Pimentel, House Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo Farinas and Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III.

Senators and congressmen have been at a deadlock on the manner of voting to propose amendments to the 1987 Constitution for a shift to federalism.

“Napagkasunduan namin na saka na lang namin pag-uusapan kung papano ang botohan. Mag-uusap muna kami sa detalye, halimbawa ‘yung structure nung government, hanggang mabuo namin ‘yung Saligang Batas (We’ve agreed to discuss the manner of voting later on. We will first tackle the details, for example, the structure of government, until we finally complete the (new) Constitution),” Alvarez said.

“Pagkatapos, kapag naman natapos kami ay (Once we’re finished then) it will not make any difference anymore if we vote separately or jointly,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez said there was also a consensus on the need to shift to a federal form of government.

He clarified that there was no animosity between the two chambers despite the seeming rift due to conflicting views on Charter change.

“Actually ‘yung word war para sa media yun, para naman medyo masaya tayo, (Actually, the word war was for the media so that we could be amused),” Alvarez said.

A more detailed discussion of the proposed features of the federal government would be discussed in subsequent meetings next week.

He said that while the administration party, Partido Demokratikong Pilipino, was advocating for a shift to a parliamentary form of government, it was not endorsing a particular structure of the government.

Alvarez said they would try to craft a new constitution that was simple and easily understandable, as well as a much simpler government structure than the current unitary form of government to address the issues facing the nation.

Alvarez said both chambers would strive to reach an agreement on contentious issues to avert the need for a Supreme Court intervention as it would delay the push for Charter amendments.

“Hangga’t maari ay iiwasan (As much as possible, we’ll try to avoid that),” Alvarez said.